*,taiHnKfKtta!aMUKatjyMniatttaawoxat<ttminiimaiemiumut  ifaammttnt. 


The  Housing  Problem 
In  War 

1918 

THE  jOtfRNAL  OF  THE 
AMERICAlSr  INSTITUTE  QF  ARCHITECTS 

The  Octagon,  /WashingtorijD.C, 


pifeM 


The  Housing  Problem 
In  War  and  in  Peace 


BY 

CHARLES  HARRIS  WHITAKER 

Editor  of  the  Journal  of  the  American'  Institute  of  Architects 

FREDERICK  L.  ACKERMAN 

Architect,  of  New  York  City 

RICHARD   S.  CHILDS 

Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Industrial  Towns,  New  York  City 

EDITH  ELMER  WOOD 

Expert  in  Housing  Legislation,  Philadelphia 


191 8 


The  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects 
THE  OCTAGON 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Foreword 


Why  has  the  provision  of  shelter  for  workmen 
come  to  be  called  "housing"? 

Why  has  housing  become  a  problem? 

Why  cannot  workmen  build  their  own  houses? 

Why  will  nobody  build  houses  at  the  present 
time? 

It  is  intended  that  these  questions  shall  be 
fully  answered  in  the  following  pages. 

When  we  acknowledged  that  we  were  un- 
prepared for  war,  did  we  realize  that  the  back- 
bone of  modern  war-making  is  decent  housing? 
That  the  weakest  spot  in  our  armor  was  the  lack 
of  decent  houses  for  millions  of  the  workmen 
upon  whom  the  burden  rests? 

Now  that  we  have  found  this  out  through  the 
costly  and  dangerous  delays  in  building  ships — 
and  in  every  other  industrial  activity — do  we 
not  see  that  we  have  never  been  prepared  for 
Peace? 

Of  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  the  United 
States  stands  alone  in  its  tenacious  adherence  to 
the  policy  that  decent  houses  can  be  provided 
by  rigid  "tenement-house  laws."  Such  an 
archaic  policy  is  about  as  well  calculated  to 
produce  good  houses  as  a  regiment  of  archers 


would  be  useful  in  France  at  the  present 
time. 

For  months,  we  have  blundered  and  muddled 
over  the  housing  question  raised  by  war.  The 
full  story  of  what  this  has  cost  will  be  written 
at  some  future  time.  Now,  Congress  has  appro- 
priated ^50,000,000  with  which  to  make  a  start 
toward  housing  the  workers  in  our  shipyards. 
Other  millions — many  and  many  millions — will 
have  to  be  spent  for  this  purpose,  and  this 
book  is  intended  to  provide  the  information  by 
means  of  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 
may  form  their  own  conclusions  as  to  whether  or 
no  our  attitude  on  this  vital  question  shall  be 
as  enlightened  as  that  of  the  rest  of  the  world, 
or  fall  back  on  a  par  with  the  intelligence  of  the 
dark  ages.  The  illustrations  are  published, 
not  as  suggestions  for  the  solution  of  our  prob- 
lem, but  as  examples  of  the  scope  and  thorough- 
ness with  which  others  have  already  dealt  with 
the  question. 

All  of  the  material  which  follows,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  illustrations,  is  reprinted  from 
the  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Architects,  issues  of  September,  1917  to 
February,  191 8,  inclusive. 


What  Is  a  House? 

By  CHARLES  HARRIS  WHITAKER 


I 


SINCE  the  war  began,  the  British  Govern- 
ment, under  such  financial  and  industrial 
pressure  as  never  before  befell  a  nation, 
has  spent  millions  upon  millions  in  building 
houses  of  all  kinds  for  its  workers.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  and  deeply  significant 
transformations  wrought  by  War.  While  her 
vast  industrial  expansion  and  its  accompany- 
ing congestion  of  workers  are  the  undoubted 
causes  of  England's  huge  expenditure  for  better 
homes,  the  deeper  significance  may  be  found 
in  her  plans  for  carrying  on  this  program  as 
a  measure  of  post-war  prudence.  War  has  raised 
the  standard  of  the  house  in  England  for  all 
time.   It  has  given  a  new  meaning  to  the  word. 

Great  was  the  pressure  under  which  England 
labored  and  pressing  was  the  emergency 
with  which  she  had  to  cope.  The  life  of  her 
armies,  upon  which  her  own  life  hung  in  the 
balance,  was  in  the  keeping  of  her  factories  and 
workshops.  Yet  as  the  old  ones  doubled, 
trebled,  quadrupled  their  size  over  night,  as  new 
ones  larger  than  any  the  world  had  ever  seen 
sprang  up  like  magic,  there  also  grew  the 
parallel  need  for  more  houses  in  which  the 
workers  could  live.  And  there  also  grew  the  per- 
ception that  if  the  workers  were  to  give  their 
utmost  in  skill  and  energy  they  must  be  given 
the  utmost  in  home  life.  The  renewal  and  con- 
stant maintenance  of  vitality  meant  more  ships, 
more  guns,  more  ammunition.  And  then  came 
the  miracle ! 

With  sound  economic  foresight,  England 
determined  to  build  permanent  houses,  except 
in  cases  where  the  emergency  was  so  dire  as  to 
compel  temporary  expedients.  She  found  that 
taking  into  account  the  expense  of  applying  the 
utilities  (streets,  water,  gas,  sewage),  the 
difference  in  cost  between  temporary  and  per- 
manent houses  was  so  little  as  to  be  negligible 
in  her  calculations.  Rather  than  accept  a 
questionable  post-war  salvage  from  temporary 
structures,  with  the  inevitable  temptation  to 
continue  their  use  as  slums,  she  resolved  to 
create  a  permanent  national  asset.    Thus  there 


have  grown  up  in  an  incredibly  short  time 
whole  new  towns  and  villages  which  will  not 
only  remain  after  the  war  but  which  will  compel 
a  generally  higher  standard  for  workmen's  homes 
— for  permanency  is  only  a  part  of  the  miracle. 
Having  come  to  this  decision,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  ask  what  kind  of  houses  to  build,  in 
other  words,  "What  is  a  house?"  During  the 
last  hundred  years  of  industrial  expansion  the 
definition  of  a  house  has  been  sinking  slowly  to 
a  level  where  it  included  almost  everything 
which  could  claim  walls  and  a  roof.  The  per- 
centage of  unsanitary,  disease-breeding  struc- 
tures inhabited  by  men,  women,  and  children  in 
all  the  so-called  civilized  countries  of  the  world 
has  be5;n  a  sad  blot  on  their  escutcheon.  With- 
out exception,  all  the  great  nations  except  the 
United  States — even  the  newer  lands  of 
Australia  and  New  Zealand  are  ahead  of  us — 
have  recognized  this  condition  and  accepted 
the  duty  of  attempting  its  amelioration  by 
financial  aid  of  different  kinds,  as  a  legitimate 
and  just  governmental  function.  It  may  be 
said  without  hesitation  that  the  application  of 
science  and  governmental  aid  to  home-building 
for  workmen  in  Germany  was  one  of  her  vital 
steps  in  the  great  scheme  of  war  preparedness. 
Her  model  villages  have  been  cited  the  world 
over,  while  her  cooperative  home-building  and 
land-owning  associations,  fostered  by  the  gov- 
ernment, have  been  studied  with  profit  in  all 
other  countries.  England  had  begun  to  deal  with 
this  question,  of  late  years,  so  that  when  she 
was  compelled  to  undertake  an  immediate  indus- 
trial expansion  which  should  outweigh  and  out- 
shoot  Germany's  highly  organized  machine, 
the  accompanying  problem  of  house-building 
was  not  an  entire  novelty.  She  had  dealt  with 
it  before.  Her  garden  cities  were  among  the 
pioneering  movements  of  modern  housing  re- 
form. All  her  communities  have  large  powers 
in  dealing  with  the  question,  and  the  model 
tenements  of  London,  Liverpool,  Glasgow, 
and  other  cities,  though  far  from  solving  the 
question  of  "What  is  a  house?"  were  long  steps 
forward.  Of  profound  significance  is  the  fact 
that  since  war  began,  London  has  demolished 


387560 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


acres  of  slums  and  erected  model  tenements 
thereon.  In  order  to  bring  the  rentals  of  these 
within  reach  of  workmen,  she  has  charged  off 
the  entire  cost  of  the  land  against  her  more 
prosperous  areas ! 

But  in  the  middle  of  war,  with  the  deter- 
mination made  to  spend  millions  in  new  houses, 
England  asked  herself  fairly  and  squarely, 
"What  is  a  house?"  Perhaps  her  answer  will 
do  more  than  anything  else  toward  solving  the 
social,  economic,  and  political  problems  which 
the  end  of  the  war  will  lay  before  every  nation 
with  a  new  and  sterner  emphasis  than  ever 
before.  The  houses  she  has  built  would  not  do 
for  the  United  States.  They  are  built  in  full 
recognition  of  certain  long-established  traditions 
and  modes  of  life.  They  have  no  central  heat, 
for  example,  but  are  generally  heated  with 
fireplaces,  while  their  interior  planning  is 
not  after  our  methods.  They  range  in  size  from 
two  to  five  rooms,  with  bath,  with  rentals 
varying  from  |i.8o  to  I3.60  a  week.  For  such 
sums  it  probably  is  impossible  to  rent  their 
equivalent  elsewhere  in  the  world,  although  it 
is  no  doubt  true  that  these  low  rentals  are  only 
made  possible  by  governmental  willingness  to 
accept  a  rate  of  return  on  the  investment  such 
as  would  not  satisfy  private  capital.  It  is  also 
possible  that  England  may  have  to  write  off, 
as  a  war  expense,  the  difference  in  cost  of  these 
houses,  at  war-time  prices  and  those  normally 
obtaining.  Curiously  enough,  many  people  ex- 
claim at  the  idea  of  such  a  possible  waste,  for- 
getting that  war  is  nothing  but  a  process  of 
throwing  away  money,  and  that  it  does  not 
matter  whether  it  goes  into  ships,  guns,  aero- 
planes, or  houses,  so  long  as  the  end  is  attained. 
But  England  finds  a  return  on  her  investment 
in  houses  which  cannot  be  measured  in  money, 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that  of  all  her  vast 
expenditures  the  houses  she  has  built  for  her 
workers  will  remain  as  one  of  the  very  few 
revenue-producing  factors  after  it  is  all  over. 

Private  capital  failed  to  provide  England 
with  the  houses  she  needed  in  order  to  wage  a 
successful  war.  Building  costs  were  higher  than 
normal,  and  private  capital  feared  that  if  it 
built  in  war  time,  it  might  be  left  with  houses 
on  its  hands  which  could  afterward  be  duplicated 
for  much  less  money.  It  also  shared  in  the 
general  uncertainty  as  to  how  reconstruction 
might   affect   industries   expanded   under   war 


pressure.  The  war  might  leave  these,  tem- 
porarily, without  usefulness  and  the  houses  in 
such  a  locality  tenantless.  But  the  Government 
could  not  allow  any  such  doubts  to  jeopardize 
its  success  in  war.  At  no  matter  what  cost — 
or  what  loss — it  had  to  have  houses.  In  this 
recognition  lies  the  kernel  of  a  hope  that  the 
definition  of  a  house  is  to  be  permanently 
revised. 

War  has  shown  the  full  meaning  of  the  house 
as  a  factor  in  national  preservation,  for  war 
brings  nations  face  to  face  with  national 
death,  and  it  is  then  that  nations  see  themselves. 
Can  it  be  doubted  that  Peace  will  ever  again 
allow  the  house  to  sink  to  the  low  level  of  the 
last  hundred  years?  Can  it  be  possible  that  the 
plain  business  value  which  has  been  found  to 
lie  in  the  good  house  will  be  ignored  by  Peace? 
The  measure  of  a  nation's  prosperity  and 
strength  is  shown  to  lie,  not  in  the  size  of  its 
factories,  the  elegance  of  its  public  buildings, 
the  luxury  of  its  hotels,  but  in  the  small  thing 
known  as  a  house.  Germany  learned  this  before 
the  war  and  applied  her  knowledge  on  a  vast 
scale,  dastardly  as  was  the  end  she  pursued. 
Other  nations  have  learned  through  the  need 
of  defeating  that  end,  and  will  not  forget.  But 
woe  to  the  nation  which  forgets  to  learn ! 

In  the  United  States  today  our  industrial  war- 
time expansion,  upon  which  so  much  depends, 
is  hampered  and  impeded  by  the  lack  of  houses. 
It  is  further  restricted  by  congestion  in  the 
hideous  structures  which  pass  under  that  name. 
Our  expansion  has  been  so  rapfd  that  this  con- 
dition grew  up  almost  unnoticed.  Under  the 
pretense  of  shortage  of  workers,  there  come 
increasing  requests  for  permission  to  work  men, 
women,  and  children  longer  hours  than  the  law 
permits.  The  answer,  in  almost  every  case, 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  real  shortage  is  in  houses 
and  rooms.  In  such  cases,  increased  production 
is  possible  only  by  overworking  those  who  can 
house  themselves,  and  the  end  of  that  would  be 
deplorable.  Many  factories  making  war  neces- 
saries are  not  running  full  because  they  cannot 
house  the  workers.  Wherever  men  and  women 
are  working  in  these  centers,  their  vitality 
frequently  is  impaired  by  the  conditions  under 
which  they  live. 

Private  capital  is  failing  here  as  it  failed  in 
England,  and  for  the  same  reasons.  The 
situation   has   assumed    alarming   proportions 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


and  the  approach  of  winter  will  render  intoler- 
able many  of  the  present  makeshifts  used  for 
houses  all  over  the  country.  The  conditions  in 
Cleveland,  Akron,  Bayonne,  Bridgeport,  Nor- 
folk, Newport  News,  in  fact  wherever  one  turns, 
are  fraught  with  elements  of  unrest  and  dis- 
content which  are  finding  frequent  expression. 
As  a  consequence  there  is  delay  in  that  industrial 
production  which  is  so  vital — a  delay  which 
costs  so  huge  a  sum.  For  every  day  the  end  of 
the  war  is  put  off,  we  may  charge  ourselves  with 
something  like  $50,000,000!  In  the  presence  of 
this  fact,  how  shall  we  answer  the  question, 
"What  is  a  house?" 

The  administration  at  Washington  is  fully 
alive  to  the  importance  of  these  conditions 
and  is  preparing  to  cope  with  them.  If  it  answers 
the  question  wisely  and  with  foresight,  the 
United  States  will  learn  a  great  and  valuable 
lesson,  for  we  shall  learn  that  if  a  decent  house  is 
essential  to  war,  it  will  be  equally  essential  to 
our  economic  life  after  the  war.  Upon  no  vital 
question  affecting  human  welfare  and  human 
progress  toward  that  larger  democracy  for 
which  we  are  giving  our  blood  and  our  treasure 
will  the  light  of  war  beat  with  a  more  enduring 
flame  than  upon  the  one,  "What  is  a  house?" 

II 

In  building  her  new  towns  and  villages, 
England  did  not  treat  the  house  as  an  isolated 
factor.  In  the  first  place,  she  embodied  in  its 
design  the  traditions  of  that  rural  domestic 
architecture  which  has  so  much  delighted  the 
thousands  of  Americans  who  have  roamed  the 
English  countryside.  She  arranged  them,whether 
singly  or  in  groups,  to  form  a  harmonious  whole 
and  to  avoid  the  deadly  monotony  of  straight 
streets  lined  with  houses  of  one  pattern,  on  one 
differing  from  any  other  and  known  only  by 
a  number,  each  possessing  as  much  outward 
atmosphere  of  inviting  appearance  as  a  row  of 
freight  cars.  Nothing  has  contributed  more  to 
the  slowness  with  which  we  respond  to 
questions  of  civic  import  than  this  deadly 
monotony.  The  man  of  means  builds  a  home  in 
which  he  may  give  expression  to  his  tastes  and 
inclinations.  Slowly,  but  surely,  this  kind  of 
domestic  architecture  has  lifted  itself  out  of  the 
slough  of  the  Victorian  era  and  the  slavish 
copying  by  architects  too  lazy  or  too  ignorant 
to  study  their  problems,  and  begun  to  claim  a 


place  as  a  distinctly  national  development  of 
value.  But  this  applies  only  to  an  infinitesi- 
mally  small  proportion  of  our  house-building 
operations.  In  the  main,  our  towns  and  cities, 
and  even  our  rural  districts,  are  made  hideous 
by  the  multitude  of  tawdry  houses  and  the 
ugliness  of  surroundings  which  that  tawdriness 
inevitably  breeds — bill-boards,  dumps,  shanties, 
with  waste  paper  and  refuse  scattered  in  indis- 
criminate profusion.  Slowly,  but  surely,  we 
become  accustomed  to  it;  we  tolerate  it;  we 
ignore  it.  But  all  unconsciously  we  never  forget 
it,  for  we  flee  it  as  a  plague.  We  flee  it  for  the 
country  when  we  can.  We  flee  it  for  anything 
which  offers  a  distraction.  And  when  men, 
women,  and  children  unconsciously  begin 
to  flee  the  neighborhood  of  their  home,  what 
chance  has  the  community  to  develop  civic, 
social,  or  even  economic  progress?  Such  flight 
is  the  unconscious  surrender  of  a  political  ideal, 
the  precursor  of  revolutions. 

Yet  against  the  ugliness  of  our  miles  and  miles 
of  desolate,  monotonous  streets,  we  can  only 
point  to  the  one-time  picturesque  quality  of 
thousands  of  European  communities  by  remind- 
ing ourselves  that  we  have  made  progress  in 
several  important  directions. 

But  why  were  we  willing  to  accept  advances 
in  sanitation,  comfort,  convenience,  with  so 
little  thought  of  the  preservation  of  those  other 
qualities  of  charm  and  picturesque  attractive- 
ness which  we  so  much  admire  when  we  visit 
Europe,  or  still  find  untouched  here  and  there 
in  our  own  country?  The  answer  involves  a  long 
study  of  our  industrial  and  social  transforma- 
tions, wherein  ruthless  competition,  unchecked 
by  any  community  foresight,  has  raised  land 
values  unequally,  destroyed  them  by  the  same 
ruthless  method,  and  made  highly  speculative 
that  which  should  of  all  things  be  permanent 
— realty  values. 

The  full  answer,  taking  cognizance  of  these 
things  yet  denying  them  their  right  to  lower  the 
standards  of  a  nation  by  steadily  reducing,  first, 
the  size  of  the  lot,  then  the  size  of  the  house,  then 
the  size  of  the  room,  enunciates  the  warning 
that  this  ever  more  and  more  relentless  compres- 
sion also  squeezes  out  the  moral  and  physical 
values  which  are  the  only  source  of  national 
progress. 

In  her  wartime  house-building,  England  has 
recognized    this    as    a    fundamental    principle. 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


Her  houses  have  ample  lot-room  and  a  maximum 
of  light  and  air.  Instead  of  being  monotonous 
they  are  as  varied  in  their  picturesque  character 
as  any  of  the  ancient  towns  of  England.  These 
new  villages  are  striking  examples  of  what  may 
be  done  when  the  size  of  lot  and  house  and  room 
— and  their  design  and  arrangement — are  not 
arbitrarily  and  ruthlessly  sacrificed  to  the 
financial  limitations  of  private  capital.  And 
this  is  no  indictment  of  the  little-understood 
thing  we  call  capital.  It  is  an  indictment  of  the 
community  and  of  the  nation  which  is  so  short- 
sighted as  first  to  permit  and  then  to  compel,  as 
a  measure  of  business  salvation  to  the  owner, 
the  erection  of  structures,  houses,  tenements, 
that  quickly  decline  in  value  through  deteriora- 
.  tion,  ultimately  diminish  the  taxable  value  of  the 
neighborhood  in  which  they  stand,  and  always 
lower  the  standards,  moral  and  physical,  of 
those  who  inhabit  them. 

This  is  the  civic  crime  of  the  ages — the  accept- 
ance by  the  community  of  a  business  principle 
which  every  good  business  man  would  reject 
in  his  own  business  without  the  slightest 
hesitation.  Against  this  condition,  of  what  value 
are  architects  and  building  codes?  Their  efforts 
must  be  directed  to  cheapening  the  cost  of 
construction,  both  by  reduction  in  space  area 
per  family  and  by  the  use  of  the  least  expensive 
materials  and  methods  of  construction  which 
will  pass  the  code,  either  honestly  or  by  con- 
nivance. Today  we  are  in  the  grip  of  this  in- 
exorable condition;  tomorrow,  how  long  deferred 
we  know  not,  we  shall  begin  to  emerge  from  it, 
or  else  one  lesson  of  the  war  will  be  lost. 
.-  The  building  of  houses  is  today  a  speculation, 
/whether  a  man  builds  with  the  hope  of  a  profit 
/  through  sale,  or  rise  in  value,  or  with  the  hope 
I  that  he  will  not  sustain  a  loss,  does  not  matter. 
The  speculative  idea  is  there;  it  cannot  be 
escaped.  Worse  than  this,  one  man  bent  upon  a 
speculation  which  promises  large  profits  to  him 
by  taking  advantage  of  the  helpless  community 
!  can  erect  a  type  or  structure  which  will  so 
damage  a  neighborhood  as  to  force  others  to 
put  their  property  to  the  same  use.  This  is 
only  a  temporary  expedient.  In  the  end  the 
community  loses.  It  suffers  the  loss  in  taxable 
values  which  is  the  anxious  consideration  of  the 
financial  authorities  of  all  our  cities,  and  it 
suffers  the  moral  loss  of  a  descending  rather  than 
an  ascending  scale  of  life.   It  is  idle  to  condemn 


speculative  builders  and  so-called  private  capital 
for  these  practices.  The  fundamental  fault,which 
must  and  will  be  corrected,  is  the  neglect  of  the 
community  to  see  that  the  longer  it  gives  carte 
blanche  to  the  individual  to  convert  land  values 
to  his  private  gain  by  no  matter  what  means, 
the  larger  will  be  the  bill  which  the  community 
will  have  to  pay  in  undoing  his  misdeeds.  This 
is  becoming  so  increasingly  evident  that  the 
zoning  or  districting  law,  which  governs  the 
character  and  occupancy  of  new  structures  in 
a  city,  is  being  applied  in  several  of  our  American 
cities.  New  York  City  welcomed  it  with  open 
arms,  as  the  only  measure  of  conserving  the 
city's  taxable  values,  and  giving  any  permanency 
to  realty.  It  undoubtedly  offers  a  large  avenue 
of  relief.  European  countries  have  applied  it 
successfully,  and  while  it  may  have  a  tendency 
temporarily  to  diminish  the  volume  of  building, 
in  the  end  it  encourages  the  erection  of  good 
buildings  as  a  permanent  rather  than  a  specula- 
tive investment. 

"What  is  a  house?"  It  is  the  prime  element 
of  national  growth.  It  is  the  soil  whence  springs 
that  eagerness  in  the  heart  of  every  man  for  a 
home  of  his  own.  It  is,  after  all,  the  physical 
attribute  of  life  upon  the  possession  or  retention 
of  which  most  of  our  energy  is  directed.  Be- 
cause of  these  things,  it  is  the  backbone  of  the 
nation.  By  the  quality  of  its  appearance,  its 
convenience,  its  durability,  one  may  infallibly 
determine  the  real  degree  of  a  nation's  prosperity 
and  civilization. 

"What  is  a  house?"  It  is  not  a  solitary  entity 
by  any  means.  Let  us  not  forget  that.  Just 
houses,  no  matter  how  well  they  answer  our 
question,  would  not  sufiice.  With  houses  go 
other  things — good  streets,  for  example 
(although  our  blind  adherence  to  the  old  street 
idea  wastes  acres  of  land  and  involves  costs  of 
upkeep  which  are  rapidly  challenging  atten- 
tion), gas,  water,  light,  fire  protection  (which 
ought  to  be  needed  less  and  less,  rather  than 
more  and  more),  garbage  removal — all  of  these 
things  are  indispensable  in  any  modern  com- 
munity. But,  in  addition  to  these  purely 
physical  attributes,  there  must  be  provided 
opportunities  for  social  recreation,  for  play,  for 
the  influences  of  the  school,  the  drama,  music, 
the  dance,  the  arts  in  general.  That  is  why 
England,  in  building  thousands  of  homes  for 
her  workers  (as  Germany  did  before  her),  has 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


had  the  foresight  to  build,  wherever  the  existing 
community  was  incapable  of  meeting  the  need, 
schools,  churches,  halls,  recreation  grounds, 
laundries,  and  even  public  kitchens.  There  are 
large  open  areas  for  the  children — and  for 
grown-ups,  too. 

"Socialism,"  says  somebody.  "Fad,"  says 
another.  "Paternalism,"  cries  a  third.  But, 
mark  this  well,  the  least  important  thing  about 
it  is  the  name  by  which  it  is  called.  Those  who 
live  principally  for  the  pleasure  of  hugging 
words  to  their  bosom  long  after  all  spark  of  life 
has  left  the  letters  which  they  spell  glibly  over 
and  over,  may  continue  the  pursuit  of  this 
childish  pastime.  Men  who  have  sense  enough 
to  recognize  human  forces  and  currents — who 
know  that  the  world  is  moved  by  these  and  that 
progress  comes  through  them  and  not  by  the 
names  they  are  called — such  men  will  under- 
stand that  England  is  putting  her  house  in  order 
by  putting  the  houses  of  her  people  in  order.  In 
other  words,  she  is  getting  ready  to  pay  her 
debts  by  organizing  her  commerce  and  industry 
on  new  lines,  far  in  advance  of  anything  else  (as 
Germany  did  before  her).  She  is  preparing  for 
her  reentrance  into  world  markets  on  a  larger 
scale  than  before,  for  it  is  from  those  markets 
that  all  the  nations  must  collect  the  money  for 
paying  their  interest  charges  and  debts.  Such 
an  economic  measure  will  be  precedent  to  the 
payment  of  national  debts  by  all  nations,  our- 
selves included.  And  in  the  working  out  of  that 
program,  the  house,  as  a  giver  of  rest  and  con- 
tentment, source  of  satisfaction,  emblem  of  true 
community  growth,  and  forerunner  of  sound 
community  values,  will  play  a  part  which  Eng- 
land seems  to  understand,  at  last. 

Shall  we  learn?  — 

III 

In  the  great  and  wonderful  epic  of  America 
we  have  been  thrilled  with  the  first  coming  of 
the  pioneer.  As  he  took  his  way  westward  into 
the  depths  of  the  wilderness,  we  have  journeyed 
with  him,  breathless,  in  the  great  adventure. 
Is  there  not  then  a  profound  significance — a 
deep  reproach — in  the  fact  that  where  we  once 
tingled  with  joy  over  the  picture  of  the  rude 
"home,"  the  family  "fireside,"  the  welcoming 
"hearth-fire,"  the  sheltering  "roof-tree,"  we  are 
now  content  to  dismiss  the  picture  from  our 
minds  and  utter  platitudes  about  "housing"? 


We  even  include  it  in  our  philanthropies  and 
consign  to  the  pathetic  field  of  charity  that 
which  we  once  glorified  as  the  very  essence  of 
our  American  spirit  and  courage — the  quest  of 
a  home! 

Bearing  these  things  in  mind  let  us  glance 
at  the  Thirteenth  Census,  and  particularly  at 
the  chapter  entitled  "Ownership  of  Homes," 
for  here  we  are  confronted  with  facts  which 
seem  to  be  a  denial  of  one  of  the  elements  that 
once  helped  to  make  up  our  national  ideal.  For 
a  whole  century  at  least  the  United  States  was 
the  goal  of  the  landless  and  the  houseless  of  all 
nations.  Some  weeks  since  Mr.  Roosevelt 
uttered  a  warning  over  the  decline  in  the  num- 
ber of  owned  farms  and  the  consequent  increase 
in  tenant-farmers.  No  one  who  has  studied  this 
question  in  the  last  decade  has  ignored  its  deep 
significance,  but  the  same  fact  is  equally  patent 
when  we  study  the  house.  Here,  ownership  by 
the  occupant  has  declined  in  a  far  greater  pro- 
portion than  has  farm  ownership.  The  Census 
of  1 910  tells  the  story  in  the  table  on  the  follow- 
ing page. 

The  figures  for  Alaska  and  Hawaii  are  of  the 
greatest  interest,  because  they  reveal  the  swifter 
strides  of  the  same  transformative  process  of 
ownership  in  an  earlier  stage.  The  difference  in 
the  ten-year  periods  is  marked  by  great  descents. 
In  the  United  States  we  note  a  slight  increase  in 
home  ownership,  other  than  farms,  for  the  period 
from  1900  to  1 9 10.  This  is  traceable  to  the 
middle  sections  of  the  country  and  is  probably 
due  to  economic  causes  connected  with  the 
first  stages  of  industrial  expansion. 

As  to  the  causes  which  have  produced  this 
result  there  can  be  but  one  general  answer. 
Under  our  economic  system  we  have  denied  the 
political  and  social  ideal  upon  which  the  nation 
was  founded.  We  have  refuted  democracy  by 
beguiling  ourselves  with  crude  attempts  to  solve 
it  in  political  terms,  the  while  we  gave  ourselves 
unbridled  license  to  exploit  our  land  and  all 
that  it  contained  with  no  thought  of  what  might 
be  the  ultimate  effect  upon  ourselves  as  a  nation 
and  upon  the  democracy  we  professed  to  seek. 
The  result  we  shall  have  to  reckon  with.  Land- 
lordism has  steadily  increased  until  we  are  in  a 
fair  way  to  actually  repeat  the  very  cycle  from 
which  men  of  other  nations  wished  to  escape 
by  coming  hither.  It  was  an  inevitable  outcome 
of  the  individualism  which  has  passed  current 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


ALL  HOMES 

FARM  HOMES 

OTHER  HOMES 

AREA  AND  CENSUS 

Per  cent  of  total 

Per  cent  of 
owned  homes 

Per  cent  of  total 

Per  cent  of 
owned  homes 

Per  cent  of  total 

Per  cent  of 
owned  homes 

Own- 
ed 

Rent- 
ed 

Own- 
ed 
free 

Own- 
ed en- 
cum- 
bered 

Free 

En- 
cum- 
bered 

Own- 
ed 

Rent- 
ed 

Own- 
ed 
free 

Own- 
ed en- 
cum- 
bered 

Free 

En- 
cum- 
bered 

Own- 
ed 

Rent- 
ed 

Own- 
ed 
free 

Own- 
ed en- 
cum- 
bered 

Free 

En- 
cum- 
bered 

UNITED  STATES 
1910     

45.8 
46.1 

47.8 

54,2 
53.9 
52.2 

34.8 
19.2 

86.9 
80.9 

43.3 

30.8 
31.7 
34.4 

64.2 
80.5 

11.4 
17.6 

55.1 

15.0 
14.5 
13.4 

1.0 
0.3 

1.7 
1.5 

1.5 

67.2 
68.7 
72.0 

98.5 
99.7 

87.3 
92.3 

97.3 

32.8 
31.3 

28.0 

1.5 
0.3 

12.7 

7.7 

2.7 

62.8 
64.4 
65.9 

37.2 
35.6 
34.1 

42.5 
44.5 
47.3 

20.3 
19.9 
18.6 

67.7 
69.0 
71.8 

32.3 
31.0 
28.2 

.  .  .^.  .  .  . 

9.5 

7.8 

4.5 

38.4 
36.2 
36.9 

61.6 
63.8 
63.1 

25.7 
24.7 
26.7 

12.7 
11.5 
10.2 

66.9 
68.3 
72.3 

33.1 

1900 

31.7 

1890 

27.7 

Alaska 
1910 

65.2 
80.8 

13.1 
19.1 

56.7 

90.5 

(') 

30.1 
69.9 

88.5 

9.5 

0) 

69.9 
30.1 

11.5 

90.5 

0) 

27.3 
64.4 

84.5 

.  .  .^.  .  .  . 

2.9 
5.5 

4.0 

100.0 

(») 

90.5 
92.2 

95.5 

65.0 
80.7 

11.9 
17.1 

45.4 

35.0 
19.3 

88.1 
82.9 

54.6 

64.0 
80.5 

10.3 
15.8 

44.7 

1.0 
0.2 

1.6 
1.3 

0.7 

98.5 
99.7 

86.7 
92.3 

98.5 

1.5 

1900 

0.3 

Hawaii 

1910  

13.3 

1900 

7.7 

Porto  Rico 
1910 

1.5 

(1)  Per  cent  not  shown  where  base  is  less  than  100. 

for  freedom,  and  constitutes  a  national  accept- 
ance of  the  doctrine  that  the  whole  welfare  of 
the  nation  is  subservient  to  the  right  of  the 
individual  to  pursue  his  path  as  he  pleases.  We 
have  struggled  to  curb  this  individualistic  wil- 
fulness by  legislation,  but  without  appreciable 
effect.  War  comes  to  us  with  a  flaming  warning. 

In  this  struggle  of  mechanism  against  mechan- 
ism, victory  will  lie  with  the  side  which  puts  forth 
the  greatest  industrial  energy.  It  is  our  discovery 
of  the  colossal  need  of  ships  and  more  ships,  of 
guns  and  more  guns,  which  also  discovers  to  us 
the  fact  that  our  abihty  to  manufacture  is  limited 
by  the  conditions  under  which  workmen  and 
their  families  live. 

If  we  ask  whether  it  is  best,  in  any  country, 
that  the  land  and  the  buildings  should  be  owned 
by  a  minority  which  inevitably  grows  smaller 
and  smaller,  we  may  safely  answer  that  it  has 
never  yet  yielded  national  stability.  If,  how- 
ever, we  assume,  as  so  many  do,  that  it  is  the 
unavoidable  result  of  the  struggle  between  men 
whose  abilities  are  so  unequal  in  carrying  on 
business,  industry,  and  commerce,  then  we  must 
admit  that  life  consists  merely  of  an  endless  and 
hopeless  repetition  of  cycles,  each  with  its 
debacle  and  rebirth.  But  does  the  faith  that 
these  cannot  and  ought  not  to  be  prevented  still 
claim  so  large  a  body  of  adherents,  now  that 
we  are  in  the  throes  of  the  most  violent  convul- 
sion the  world  has  known — when  we  can  see 
more  clearly  than  ever  before  through  eyes  to 
which  science  has  lent  a  new  visionary  power? 

It  is  upon  our  answer  to  this  question  that 


the  problem  of  building  houses  for  workmen 
depends  for  the  right  solution,  and  it  is  this 
which  also  gives  such  emphasis  to  the  import- 
ance of  dealing  rightly  with  the  present  dire 
emergency  of  shortage  in  houses  and  the  con- 
sequent congestion  to  which  so  many  thousands 
of  our  workers,  with  their  wives  and  families, 
are  condemned.  War  has  made  this  so  vital  a 
question  that  we  must  now  face  it  whether  we 
will  or  no,  but  we  cannot  in  any  way  find  the 
right  solution  without  asking  ourselves  these 
questions;  they  weave  themselves  into  the  fig- 
ures in  the  Census  with  an  insistence  which 
almost  implores  us  to  find  the  answer. 

Can  it  be  true  that  the  instinct  for  possessing 
a  house  has  become  a  declining  factor  in  our  life? 
Has  the  acceptance  of  the  rented  substitute,  in 
a  steadily  increasing  measure  over  a  long  period 
of  years,  supplanted  that  desire  to  an  extent 
which  indicates  its  permanent  passing?  Do  we 
admit  that  the  "efliciency"  of  our  life  demands 
subservience,  for  the  great  majority,  to  a  land- 
lordism which  cannot  be  escaped?  Must  we 
pursue  to  its  cataclysmic  end  a  system  which 
decrees  that  the  workman  must  relinquish  his 
wish  to  own  a  home  in  order  that  he  may  con- 
serve to  himself  the  largest  possible  measure  of 
economic  freedom?  The  facts  off^er  relentless 
evidence  of  the  condition  to  which  we  have 
arrived,  and  the  right  solution  of  what  we  have 
pathetically  termed  the  "industrial  housing" 
problem  depends  utterly  upon  our  resolve  to 
study  the  problem  with  open  minds  and  with 
all  the  facts  squarely  before  us. 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
View  in  ARSENAL  ROAD  Looking  South. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
JVestminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
Junction  of  CONGREVE  ROAD  and  MAUDSLAY  ROAD  Looking  North 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works  ^ 
Westminster, 
London^  S.  W. 


10 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
Fiew  in  CONGREVE  ROAD  Looking  North. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W, 


U 


Government  Hoising  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
Group  of  Houses  in  DOWNMAN  ROAD. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S  W. 


\1 


Government  Housing  Scheme,   . 

Well  Hall,  Woolwich.     191 5. 

Fiew  in  WELL  HALL  ROAD  Looking  North. 


11.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


13 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
Entrance  Group  in  WELL  HALL  ROAD,  East  Side. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


14 


Government  Mousing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
View  in  ROSS  WAY  Looking  East. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


15 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
Fiew  in  ROSS  WAY  Looking  fVest. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
JVestminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


16 


What  Is  a  House?  IV* 


By  FREDERICK  L.  ACKERMAN 


Introduction 


THIS  study  is  the  result  of  a  visit  to  England 
in  October,  1917,  the  primary  purpose  of 
which  was  to  gather  information  relating 
to  the  operations  of  the  British  Government  in 
providing  adequate  houses  for  a  vast  army  of 
munitions  workers,  to  her  program  for  building 
a  still  greater  number  of  workmen's  houses  as 
a  measure  of  post-war  reconstruction,  and  of 
discovering  how  these  undertakings  were  to 
affect  the  future  social  and  economic  structure 
of  Great  Britain.  It  was,  and  still  is,  my  hope 
that  information  thus  gleaned  would  be  of  value 
to  us  in  the  formulation  and  execution  of  a 
program  to  meet,  not  only  a  shortage  in  houses 
quite  similar  in  many  respects  to  that  which 
faced  the  British  Government  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  in  1914,  but  to  help  us  in  grappling 
with  our  own  inevitable  problem  of  economic 
reconstruction. 

The  house  problem  which  confronted  England 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  does  not  differ  in  any 
material  way  from  the  problem  which  faced  the 
United  States  when  she  entered  the  war  in  the 
spring  of  1917.  In  both  cases  there  existed  a 
shortage  of  houses  and  dwellings  which  had, 
prior  to  the  war,  given  rise  to  no  little  concern. 
It  is  not  of  material  value  to  consider  the 
relative  shortage  in  England  and  America  at 
the  time  when  each  entered  the  war;  and  if  it 
were  of  value,  the  actual  figures  representing  a 
shortage  are  not  available,  for  no  accurate  sur- 
veys of  conditions  had  been  made.  We  knew 
quite  as  well  a  year  ago  as  England  knew  in  1914 
that  this  problem  under  conditions  of  peace  was 
one  requiring  drastic  and  immediate  action. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  war  it  was  made 
manifest  to  England  in  a  most  emphatic  way 
that  effective  measures  were  imperative  in  deal- 
ing with  the  ever-increasing  seriousness  of  a 
fundamental  problem  of  national  welfare  and 
stability.  Modern  warfare  had  shown,  as  Peace 
could  not  do,  the  vital  part  played  by  health 
and  living  conditions  in  industry,  tor  it  quickly 

*This  is  an  unusual  serial  story.  The  author  of  the  preceding  chap- 
ters now  retires  and  a  new  author  takes  his  place. — Charles  Harris 
Whitaker. 


became  evident  what  part  industry  today  plays 
in  the  winning  of  battles  at  the  front.  This 
compelled  a  complete  acknowledgment  that 
the  first  factor  contributing  to  maximum  pro- 
duction and  national  supremacy  (a  fact  already 
acknowledged  in  many  quarters  but  not  recog- 
nized in  positive  action)  is  the  living  conditions 
of  the  worker. 

In  setting  forth  in  detail  the  British  method 
of  dealing  with  this  problem  during  the  war,  I 
shall  go  somewhat  afield  from  the  narrow  con- 
fines of  technical  "housing  and  town  planning," 
with  their  by-laws  and  legislative  enactments, 
and  consider  the  reasons  why  England  had  ad- 
vanced so  much  more  rapidly  than  had  we  in 
this  field  of  activity  prior  to  the  war;  and  how 
it  was  that,  when  the  war  made  the  unforeseen 
demands  upon  England,  she  was  able  so  rapidly 
and  effectively  to  translate  the  will  to  do  into 
actual  accomplishment. 

English  and  American  Similarities 
and  Differences 

As  I  have  already  suggested,  if  we  consider 
merely  the  numerical  aspect  of  pre-war  con- 
ditions in  England  and  America,  and  likewise 
the  similarity  as  regards  the  urgency  of  war's 
demands,  the  two  problems  appear  to  be  prac- 
tically identical. 

But  with  these  two  points  of  similarity  the 
identity  ends.  For  as  soon  as  one  enters  upon 
the  field  of  technique  and  attempts  to  make  a 
direct  application  of  British  methods  to  the 
solution  of  the  American  problem,  one  is  im- 
mediately confronted  with  a  long  list  of  values 
which  must  needs  be  first  interpreted  and  then 
translated  into  equivalent  American  usages  and 
terms. 

With  our  laws,  broadly  speaking,  based  upon 
British  tradition,  we  have  assumed  that  we 
could  continue  to  borrow  quite  freely  of  Eng- 
land's modern  technique  of  "housing  and  town 
planning."  This  does  not  follow.  Due  to  strik- 
ing differences  in  social  and  economic  life,  laws 
in  our  country  which  appear  similar  in  form  and 
expression  to  those  of  England  have  in  practice 
totally  different  values. 


17 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


THE  BRITISH  BACKGROUND 

Twenty  years  ago  the  average  American 
traveler  in  England  would  have  found  com- 
paratively little  beyond  things  of  an  historic 
interest  to  arrest  his  attention.  His  itinerary 
would  have  taken  him  through  the  larger  cen- 
ters, the  cathedral  towns,  a  few  villages  of  an 
unusual  historic  interest  where  the  flavor  of 
Old-World  tradition  still  remained.  These  are  to 
be  seen  today;  the  larger  centers  have  but 
slightly  changed;  the  historic  places  of  interest 
for  the  most  part  remain,  but  they  are  dwarfed 
by  the  widespread  evidence  of  a  new  develop- 
ment, for,  scattered  throughout  England,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  in  Scotland,  are  unique  and 
interesting  twentieth  century  communities  quite 
unlike  the  old  villages,  which,  while  recalling  the 
old  tradition  of  form,  are  decidedly  unlike  the 
twentieth  century  communities  one  sees  in 
America.  They  mark  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era. 

The  reason  for  this  momentous  transfor- 
mation is  derived  from  a  background  of  experi- 
ence and  tendency;  the  contrast  is  too  great  to 
have  been  achieved  by  an  architect  or  a  school 
of  architects,  or  a  school  of  city  planners;  and 
those  of  us  in  America  who  have  desired  passion- 
ately a  more  integrated  expression  must  fully 
acknowledge  this,  for  these  villages  of  England 
could  not  have  been  produced  in  America,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  it  is  quite  possible 
for  the  American  architect  or  town  planner  to 
project  them  upon  paper. 

The  houses  in  a  town,  the  arrangement  of  a 
town,  the  quality  of  life  made  possible  in  a  town, 
serve  as  an  infallible  barometer  whereby  we  may 
read  the  state  of  social,  physical,  economic,  and 
moral  development  of  a  people.  It  is  therefore 
of  vital  importance  to  us  to  find  the  underly- 
ing reason  for  our  failure  to  produce  examples 
comparable  to  these  modern  English  commu- 
nities. It  is  not  enough  to  understand  the  elabo- 
rate legislative  technique  surrounding  the  British 
operations,  nor  will  mere  graphic  descriptions  of 
the  schemes  suffice.  We  must  understand  fully 
the  forces  which  brought  about  this  new  con- 
dition in  England  in  order  that  we  may  deter- 
mine what  phases  of  English  methods  are  appli- 
cable in  America.  Above  all,  in  this  connection 
we  must  consider  our  capacities,  for  we  shall 
find  tendencies  in  American  life  and  factors  in 


our  political  and  social  institutions  which  must 
needs  pass  through  a  process  of  education  simi- 
lar to  that  of  England  before  it  is  possible  for  us 
to  apply  even  the  most  elemental  principles  in- 
volved in  the  success  of  British  housing  and 
town  planning  effort.  That  we  have  not  been 
able  to  produce  comparable  results  is  a  clear 
indication  that  our  social  institutions  are  not 
sufficiently  developed,  that  our  political  mech- 
anism is  not  properly  adjusted,  and  that  we  lack 
unity  of  purpose.  Unless  we  remedy  this  lack 
of  integrated  purpose  we  shall  fail  to  keep  pace 
with  Europe  in  the  fields  of  industry  and  finance, 
notwithstanding  the  terrific  handicaps  which, 
we  assume,  will  be  her  heritage  from  the  war. 
But,  to  return  to  the  question  of  cause — the 
background.  All  that  I  propose  is  an  indication 
in  outline,  or  rather,  in  silhouette,  which  will 
focus  attention  upon  the  fundamental  difference 
between  British  and  American  directing  factors 
or  forces.  Of  these  there  are  four  points  to  be 
considered: 

1.  Conditions  surrounding  the  ownership  of  land. 

2.  Conditions  which  obtained  in  Great  Britain  during 
the  Industrial  Revolution  of  a  century  ago,  and  which 
period  may  be  said  to  have  ended  with  the  passage  of  the 
Reform  Bill  in  1832. 

3.  The  remarkable  social  and  political  development  in 
England  during  the  last  three-quarters  century,  which 
period  might  be  said  to  have  ended  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  war,  but  during  the  latter  part  of  which  a 
remarkable  list  of  social  reforms  were,  by  legislative  enact- 
ment, put  into  effect — some  of  them  affecting  in  a  profound 
way  England's  progress  in  housing  and  town  planning. 

4.  Architectural  tradition  in  Great  Britain  and  the 
development  of  a  group  of  town  planners,  architects,  and 
engineers,  keenly  sympathetic  and  most  active  in  the 
development  of  processes  whereby  the  general  tendencies 
of  the  day  could  be  crystallized,  so  to  speak,  into  material 
expressions  of  permanence. 

Land  Monopoly  and  Landlordism 

It  may  appear  paradoxical  to  say  that  devel- 
opment along  the  lines  of  integrated  social 
effort  has  been  hastened  more  rapidly  in  Eng- 
land by  the  fact  that  progress  has  there  been 
more  difficult.  Our  apathy  has  been  due  to  the 
fact  that  conditions  have  not  been  so  bad  as  to 
develop  a  united  movement  with  a  definite  pro- 
gram of  amelioration.  We  have  been  content  to 
drift.  We  have  failed  to  realize  that  we  were 
contending  with  the  same  condition  which  has 
surrounded  the  ownership  of  land  in  Great 
Britain.    There  a  landed  aristocracy  has  been 


18 


WHAT  IS  A   HOUSE? 


determined  to  maintain  the  status  quo;  here  the 
ownership  of  land  has  been  passing  steadily  into 
the  hands  of  fewer  and  fewer  owners. 

In  England  the  profits  from  the  great  estates 
have  been  invested  more  and  more  in  com- 
mercial and  industrial  enterprises,  thus  bring- 
ing about  an  intimate  relation  with  a  common 
interest  in  opposing  social  and  labor  legislation. 
Not  only  this,  but  with  the  ownership  of  land 
confined  to  a  few  whose  main  purpose  in  life 
had  been  to  maintain  their  holdings  and  pass 
them  on  to  the  next  in  line,  it  has  been  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  secure  land  for  small-estate 
developments  or  for  purposes  of  rural  or  urban 
housing. 

Before  any  material  degree  of  social  reform 
could  be  obtained  it  was  necessary  to  break  down 
this  great  land  monopoly.  The  effort  to  accom- 
plish this  resulted  in  many  general  legislative 
enactments  which  have  been  most  advanta- 
geous to  housing  and  town  planning  reforms. 
But  these  measures  in  nowise  solved  the  prob- 
lem. The  problem  of  cheap  land  still  remains. 
And,  as  clearly  shown  by  Mr.  Whitaker  in 
Chapter  III*  of  this  series,  we  now  see  that  we 
have  arrived  at  a  condition  which  parallels  that 
of  Great  Britain.  By  regulations  made  under 
the  Defense  of  the  Realm  Acts,  the  British 
Government  insures  that  the  home-building 
operations  adjacent  to  munition  plants  shall 
not  be  burdened  by  the  unearned  increment. 
That  is  to  say,  when  it  becomes  necessary  to 
build  more  homes,  the  land  adjoining  an  exist- 
ing development  can  be  taken  at  its  pre-war 
value,  and  not  at  the  higher  value  which  has 
been  added  to  it  by  the  initial  home-building 
operation.  Unless  this  be  done,  each  succeed- 
ing operation  becomes  more  costly,  with  a  cor- 
responding increase  in  rent  and  a  diminution  in 
the  size  of  house  and  lot,  and  thus  we  endlessly 
repeat  the  vicious  cycle  of  congestion.  Reference 
to  this  will  be  made  later,  for  it  is  the  most  im- 
portant factor  of  all,  looking  toward  national 
well-being. 

In  America  we  are  now  experiencing  the  same 
profound  change  that  resulted  in  England  from 
what  is  termed  the  "Industrial  Revolution."  It 
was  during  this  period  in  England  that  we  wit- 
nessed the  very  rapid  changes  which  transformed 
an  agricultural  society  into  one  of  industry.  We 


♦Journal    of   the    American    Institute    of   Architects,    November, 


1917. 


see  the  rapid  settlement  of  a  vast  working-class* 
population  outside  of  the  limits  of  the  then  exist- 
ing small  towns,  the  development  of  industrial 
centers  in  which  the  living  conditions  of  the 
workers  were  wretched  beyond  words  to  express. 
We  see  also  the  poverty  and  utter  helplessness 
of  this  vast  population.  In  contrast  to  this  con- 
dition of  the  poor,  witness  the  rapid  accumula- 
tion of  wealth  and  capital  by  a  small  group  of 
individuals  who  accepted  the  wretched  con- 
dition of  the  worker  and  the  state  of  inequality 
as  a  condition  actually  contributing  to  national 
prosperity.  We  see  how  it  was  that  unfair  laws 
were  framed  and  how  unfairly  justice  was  dis- 
pensed, and  by  what  unfair  means  was  order 
obtained.  We  also  witness  the  very  slow  awak- 
ening of  the  industrial  laborer  to  the  unfairness 
of  the  existing  conditions,  and  we  witness  also 
the  slow  and  labored  birth  of  a  new  spirit.  It  is 
this  new  spirit  brought  into  being  by  the  intoler- 
able conditions  imposed  by  our  economic  system, 
the  utter  indifference  of  the  rich  to  the  conditions 
of  the  poor,  which  developed  into  the  directing 
forces  of  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

New  Forces  at  Work 

Coexistent  with  the  spirit  of  revolt  on  the 
part  of  the  laborers  against  these  intolerable 
conditions,  there  developed  a  most  remarkable 
and  profound  change  in  the  entire  fabric  of 
society,  not  confined  to  England  alone,  but  char- 
acteristic of  western  Europe,  Australia,  and,  to 
a  limited  extent,  of  America.  This  change  was 
particularly  marked  in  England,  and  something 
of  its  nature  must  be  understood  before  it  is 
possible  to  grasp  the  full  significance  of  the 
housing  and  town  planning  movement,  for  this 
latter  is  not  a  small,  isolated  movement,  but  a 
part  of  a  world  tendency  which  is  sure  to  accu- 
mulate force  and  power  for  years  to  come.  This 
is  expressed  by  the  recent  tendencies  in  social 
politics  and  the  resulting  legislative  enactments 
of  the  British  Parliament,  but  its  scope,  how- 
ever, includes  an  almost  limitless  field  of  activity 
and  interest.  We  can  no  more  escape  this  move- 
ment than  we  could  have  escaped  our  entrance 
into  the  war. 

To  consider  the  nature  of  this  world  move- 
ment may  seem  a  needless  digression  from  the 
topic  under  consideration,  but  if  it  is  our  hope  in 

*"The  Town  Laborer,"  by  J.  L.  Hammond  and  Barbara  Ham- 
mond.   London,  191 7,  Longmans,  Green  &  Co. 


19 


WHAT  IS  A   HOUSE? 


America  to  move  forward  after  the  war,  we  must 
recognize  this  force  which  is  pushing  forward 
with  continuous  and  ever-increasing  accelera- 
tion. Ours  must  be  a  program  of  reconstruction 
having  as  its  basis  a  full  recognition  of  the  great 
change  which  has  taken  place  during  the  last 
century  and  which  has  been  tremendously 
accelerated  by  the  present  world  conflict. 

In  the  essay  "Toward  Social  Democracy,"* 
by  Sidney  Webb,  is  traced  the  silent  revolution 
which  has  taken  place  in  ideas  during  the  last 
three-quarters  of  a  century  and  which  brought 
us  to  the  state  of  flux  in  which  the  western  world 
found  itself  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  It  is 
pointed  out  how  little  appreciated  or  understood 
is  the  great  change  which  has  taken  place  in 
England  and  the  purpose  of  the  essay  is  to 
throw  greater  light  upon  the  "persistent  stream 
of  tendencies"  which  have  brought  about  this 
change  and  to  show  more  clearly  the  direction  of 
the  course  of  this  world  movement  from  the 
point  of  departure. 

The  New  Application  of  Government 
as  an  Association  of  Consumers 

It  is  pointed  out  how,  a  century  ago,  before 
the  reform  of  municipal  corporations,  men  had 
for  centuries  grouped  themselves  on  the  basis 
of  their  occupations  as  producers;  how  this  old 
grouping  of  men  as  producers  stood  stolidly  in 
the  way  of  social  reform;  how  the  slow  begin- 
nings of  a  diflFerent  grouping  took  place  when 
local  bodies  with  broader  functions  were  formed 
in  municipal  government,  the  purpose  of  which 
was  to  provide  for  the  needs,  not  of  a  special 
group  but  for  the  needs  of  all  of  the  local  resi- 
dents; and  how  it  followed  that  these  new  groups 
— local  governing  bodies — by  nature  of  their 
interests  and  duties  gradually  took  on  the  char- 
acter of  an  association  of  consumers.  It  is 
shown  how  the  form  of  administrative  govern- 
ment has  expanded  during  the  last  century  as  a 
result  of  this  new  concept  of  its  function;  how  it 
is  that  we  have  become,  in  a  way,  accustomed  to 
this  change;  how  we  fail  to  recognize  the  extent 
of  the  service  which  the  Government  actually 

'"Toward  Social  Democracy,"  London,  1916.  The  Fabian  Society. 
A  study  of  social  evolution  during  the  past  three-quarters  of  a  century, 
by  Sidney  Webb,  prepared  in  1909  for  the  Cambridge  Modern  History, 
and  reprinted  in  1916,  and  also  in  a  series  of  three  supplements  to 
"The  New  Statesman"  by  the  same  author,  published  in  1915,  one 
finds  a  concise  presentation  of  these  changes.  The  three  supplements 
referred  to  bear  the  titles  of  "Cooperative  Production  and  Profit 
Sharing,"  "The  Cooperative  Movement,"  and  "State  Municipal 
Enterprise." 


renders — which  service  is  organized  upon  the 
theory  of  primarily  benefiting  the  public — the 
consumer,  who  is  likewise  benefited  as  a  pro- 
ducer. 

It  is  significant  that  these  functions  of  govern- 
ment which  we  accept  as  a  matter  of  course, 
and  which  form  such  a  large  part  of  the  activi- 
ties of  the  Government,  are  almost  wholly  the 
creation  of  the  last  century.  We  do  not  appre- 
ciate to  what  extent  this  new  idea  has  been 
developed;  but  one  has  only  to  examine  in 
detail  such  activities  as  those  related  to  com- 
munication and  transport,  public  health,  land 
improvement  and  development  (urban  and 
rural),  conservation,  education  and  recreation, 
banking,  insurance  and  exchange,  the  produc- 
tion of  light  and  power,  housing,  agriculture  and 
forestry,  or  mining,  to  realize  to  what  extent 
this  concept  of  government  as  an  association  of 
consumers  has  developed.  Beyond  this  aspect 
of  governmental  activity  one  finds  a  tendency, 
particularly  emphasized  in  England,  and  ex- 
pressed in  the  powerful  cooperative  societies. 
America  has  but  slight  knowledge  of  the  extent 
of  this  movement  nor  the  power  which  it  wields 
in  Europe.  Even  in  England  the  significance  of 
this  movement  is  not  generally  recognized;  there 
the  middle  and  upper  classes  scarcely  grasp  the 
import  of  these  organizations.  But  they  are 
none  the  less  powerful;  for  so  great  a  shifting  of 
the  control  and  management  of  the  production  of 
commodities  by  which  men  live  cannot  fail  to  pro- 
duce far-reaching  social  and  economic  changes. 

As  a  result  of  this  tendency  toward  the  col- 
lective organization  of  consumers,  one  finds  in 
England,  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  a 
series  of  legislative  enactments  which  are 
destined  within  a  few  years  to  change  utterly  the 
general  aspect  of  British  government  and  in 
turn  alter  the  entire  aspect  of  British  life  and 
British  physical  environment. 

Outstanding  among  the  many  measures  one 
notes  the  Acts  relating  to  workmen's  compensa- 
tion, trade  unionism,  child  welfare,  old-age  pen- 
sions, the  unemployed,  sweated  labor,  the  hous- 
ing and  land  problem,  national  insurance,  and 
the  "Lloyd  George  Budget."  While  these  are  all 
interrelated  and  part  of  a  single  program  of 
social  amelioration,  our  interest  must  be  con- 
fined but  to  a  single  phase — the  housing  and 
land  problem  which  we  will  consider  under 
"British  Pre-War  Measures." 


20 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


Attending  the  gradual  change  in  this  concept 
of  government  from  that  in  which  its  two  prin- 
cipal functions  were  the  dispensing  of  justice  (a 
limited  concept  as  we  now  see  it)  and  the  con- 
duct of  war,  to  that  new  concept  in  which  the 
central  idea  of  government  is  an  organization  of 
consumers,  there  went  on  a  gradual  and  inter- 
esting change  in  the  form  and  structure  of 
government  itself.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
municipal  government  in  Europe  and  partic- 
ularly in  England.  Here  we  see  a  development 
which  offers  a  striking  contrast  to  our  methods — 
a  development  which  those  who  are  interested 
in  housing  and  town  planning  should  study  most 
carefully,  for  a  knowledge  of  British  municipal 
government  is  necessary  to  an  understanding  of 
housing  and  town  planning  in  Great  Britain. 
This  subject,  however,  will  be  left  for  a  more 
detailed  treatment  under  "British  Pre-War 
Methods." 

The  Age-Old  Problem  of  Housing 

Thoroughly  to  grasp  our  problem,  we  must 
realize  that  the  housing  of  workers  is  not  a  prob- 
lem peculiar  to  ourselves  or  a  result  of  war;  it  is, 
and  for  generations  has  been,  a  Western  World 
problem  growing  out  of  industrial  systems,  and 
practically  the  entire  Western  World,  with  the 
exception  of  America,  has  recognized  it  as  either 
a  municipal  or  a  federal  problem  demanding  for 
solution  more  than  restrictive  legislation.  We 
must  be  brought  to  recognize  that  the  countries 
of  Europe  have  had  this  problem  to  contend 
with  for  a  much  longer  period  and  that  their 
present  methods  represent  the  result  of  a  long 
and  painful  period  of  experimentation.  We 
must  also  recognize  that  there  is  a  world  ten- 
dency toward  the  amelioration  of  the  conditions 
surrounding  workmen;  that  the  present  ten- 
dency is  born  of  a  practical  experience  which 
has  shown  the  tremendous  value  of  physical 
environment  upon  industrial  production.  No 
longer  is  welfare  work  confined  within  the  fac- 
tory or  to  the  region  immediately  adjacent; 
now  it  extends  to  the  housing  of  workers,  and 
with  the  housing  of  workers  the  inclusion  of  the 
amenites  is  given  a  dominating  emphasis-. 

However  vaguely  we  may  grasp  the  problems 
confronting  us  in  the  days  of  reconstruction  to 
come,  we  are  absolutely  certain  of  these  things: 
that  nation  which  is  most  fully  organized  and 
wherein  every  element  of  its  social  and  economic 


structure  is  conserved — that  nation  in  which  the 
vision  of  a  great  social  and  economic  democracy 
is  expressed  in  the  broadest  program  of  national 
organization  and  conservation — that  is  the 
nation  which  will  achieve  national  prosperity 
because  it  puts  the  welfare  of  the  whole  above 
the  welfare  of  any  individual  or  group.  There  is 
no  other  way  to  national  stability. 

Now  is  the  time,  as  never  before,  when  we 
must  scrutinize  our  ultra-individualistic  ten- 
dencies, our  relative  lack  of  accomplishment  along 
broad  social  lines  of  cooperative  undertakings, 
our  trembling  fear  of  governmental  control,  and, 
above  all,  of  materialistic  aims.  For  these  ten- 
dencies, unless  overcome,  will  inhibit  us  abso- 
lutely from  keeping  pace  with  those  nations 
whose  suffering  and  loss  have  been  much  greater 
than  our  own,  but  who,  through  the  integrated 
effort  resulting  from  war,  have  learned  to  realize 
something  of  the  meaning  of  social  democracy. 

BRITISH  PRE-WAR  METHODS.    I 

For  some  time  past,  we,  the  architects  and 
the  town  planners,  have  taken  the  position  that 
our  lack  of  success  must  be  due  to  a  want  of 
appreciation  of  esthetic  values  on  the  part  of  the 
public,  to  the  dominating  commercialism  of  our 
day  and  people,  to  an  excessive  spirit  of  indi- 
vidualism; and  we  have  been,  as  a  profession, 
content  with  that  exceedingly  superficial 
answer. 

We  have  endeavored  to  awaken  a  public  in- 
terest in  housing  and  town  planning,  first,  through 
the  spectacular  and  later  the  beautiful;  then,  as 
the  pendulum  swung,  by  a  narrow  financial 
assessment  of  its  worth.  We  have  striven  hard 
to  promote  better  housing,  primarily  by  restric- 
tive legislative  enactments  and  through  our 
small-house  competitions. 

Notwithstanding  these  activities  and  the  vast 
amount  of  propaganda,  we  have  completely 
failed  to  bring  about  anything  which  approxi- 
mates a  national  solution  of  this  problem.  Few 
have  acknowledged  the  reason  for  our  failure. 

When  you  discuss  the  problem  of  the  housing 
of  workmen  with  an  architect,  a  social  reformer, 
an  engineer,  or  a  corporation  with  whom  the 
question  has  become  a  serious  factor  in  the 
output  of  a  factory,  the  discussion  revolves 
about  the  type,  the  size,  and  the  cost  of  houses — 
the  financial  aspect  and  the  problem  and  method 
of    construction.      These    are    apparently    in 


21 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


America   the   dominating   factors   to   be   con-  The  Broad  Scope  and  Powers  of  the 

sidered  and  dealt  with.  Local  Government  Board 


England's  Advanced  Position  as  to 
Policy  and  Public  Opinion. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  when  you  consider 
this  same  problem  in  its  various  aspects  with 
Englishmen  in  parallel  fields  of  activity,  you 
very  soon  discover  that  the  problem  is  viewed 
from  the  angle  of  a  general  policy  in  which  they 
make  constant  and  repeated  reference  to  Local 
Authority  and  Local  Government  Board.  They 
think  of  the  problem  in  terms  of  these  authori- 
ties and  the  functions  exercised  by  them. 

For  it  is  these  two  bodies  that  exercise  most 
important  powers  and  functions  in  connection 
with  housing  and  town-planning  operations  in 
Great  Britain.  This  constant  reference  to  these 
two  bodies  is  a  little  confusing  to  one  who 
attempts  to  translate  British  methods  into 
American  terms.  We  may  understand  that 
what  is  represented  by  the  term  "Local  Author- 
ity" corresponds  in  a  very  general  way  to  our 
own  executive  and  legislative  municipal  bodies; 
but  we  can  find  nothing  in  the  structure  of  our 
government  even  to  approximate  in  function 
and  authority  the  British  Local  Government 
Board. 

While  the  Local  Authority  occupies  a  posi- 
tion which  in  a  way  corresponds  to  that  held 
by  the  "government"  in  our  municipalities,  yet 
the  method  of  electing  members  to  the  Council, 
the  mayor,  the  aldermen,  the  counsellors,  the 
appointment  of  officials,  their  terms  of  office,  the 
powers  which  the  authorities  derive  from  their 
charter,  from  Parliament,  from  the  Local  Gov- 
ernment Board,  and  their  methods  of  administra- 
tion, differ  so  widely  from  conditions  surround- 
ing municipal  government  in  America  that  it 
would  be  futile  to  assume  that  similar  legislation 
could  be  applied  in  America  without  a  material 
modification  of  government  itself.  Broadly 
speaking,  the  greater  trust  in  which  municipal 
government  has  been  held  in  Great  Britain  since 
the  passage  of  the  Reform  Bill  in  1832  has  not 
only  broadened  its  powers  as  an  effective  instru- 
ment working  for  the  common  good,  but  that 
trust  has  made  government  far  more  effective  in 
meeting  the  actual  needs  of  a  democratic 
community.  To  develop  such  a  trust  is  one  of 
our  prime  duties  in  loosening  democracy  from 
the  political  grip  which  now  strangles  it. 


Interesting  as  is  the  work  of  the  Local  Author- 
ity in  Great  Britain,  the  work  of  the  Local 
Government  Board  is  still  more  interesting.  An 
understanding  of  its  relation  to  Parliament  and, 
in  turn,  to  the  Local  Authorities  is  necessary, 
and  I  therefore  make  reference  to  *"The  Govern- 
ment of  European  Cities"  wherein  the  subject  is 
set  forth  with  particular  reference  to  American 
readers. 

The  Local  Government  Board  is,  in  a  sense, 
a  part  of  the  ministry.  It  derives  its  power  from 
Parliament,  exercises  control  over  the  work  of 
Local  Authorities,  and  has  a  wide  range  of  sub- 
legislative powers.  "It  may  issue  to  the  Local 
Authorities  a  General  Regulation  which  is 
binding  throughout  the  whole  country,  or  an 
order  which  affects  a  single  union  only."  "It  is 
the  central  supervising  authority  in  all  matters 
relating  to  local  sanitation  and  the  care  of 
public  health."  "It  may  even  in  some  cases 
compel  the  Local  Authorities  to  provide  water- 
supply  or  appoint  medical  officers  or  improve 
the  drainage  system."  It  should  be  clearly  kept 
in  mind  "that  the  Local  Government  Board  may 
issue  orders  only  upon  the  express  authority  of 
Parliamentary  statute."  Its  legislative  powers 
are  delegated  to  it  by  Parliament  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  making  sure  that  the  statutes  of  the 
realm  shall  be  accurately  interpreted  and  ap- 
plied in  the  local  jurisdiction. 
'  From  the  standpoint  of  housing  and  town 
planning,  the  jurisdiction  exercised  by  the  Local 
Government  Board  in  vetoing  or  amending 
ordinances  and  by-laws  made  by  Local  Author- 
ities is  very  important.  This  is  a  vital  preroga- 
tive, and  it  has  operated  to  secure  a  closer  ap- 
proach to  uniformity  in  municipal  rules  relating 
to  public  health  and  welfare,  for  the  Board  has 
adopted  the  practice  of  publishing  "model"  by- 
laws which  the  Local  Authorities  find  it  safe  and 
advantageous  to  follow. 

Compare  the  custom  in  America,  where  a 
municipahty  drafts  all  sorts  of  building  laws 
and  ordinances,  often  without  the  aid  of  any 
expert  knowledge,  with  the  British  custom  of 
having  such  local  by-laws  prepared  by  the  ex- 
perienced and  well-paid  experts  of  the  Local 
Government  Board  in  London.    Not  only  does 


*Thc    Government    of    European    Cities.     By   William    Bennett 
Munro.    New  York,  1909.   The  Macmillan  Co. 


22 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


this  minimize  the  chance  of  such  laws  being  suc- 
cessfully attacked  in  the  courts,  but  it  insures 
that  the  laws  shall  express  both  knowledge  and 
experience. 

A  danger  may  be  cited  in  the  power  of  the 
Board  to  disallow  or  amend  an  act  of  Local 
Authority.  There  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no 
such  danger,  for  the  Local  Government  Board 
may  not  thus  interfere,  "except  in  the  event 
that  the  local  ordinance  is  unlawful,  and  never 
because  it  may  appear  to  be  unwise  or  inex- 
pedient." 

"So  long  as  the  Borough  Council  keep  within 
their  legal  powers,  they  are  free  from  inter- 
ference." 

"More  important  than  the  legislative  author- 
ity of  the  Local  Government  Board  are  its  ad- 
ministrative powers."  These  powers  exercised 
in  matters  relating  to  public  health  and  sanita- 
tion and  the  raising  of  funds  have  a  vital  rela- 
tion to  the  question  of  housing  and  town  plan- 
ning. 

*"Here  its  influence  is  at  once  apparent;  for,  as  will  be 
seen  a  little  later,  the  boroughs  are  required  to  secure  its 
approval  of  their  borrowing  projects,  and  the  board,  in 
granting  approval,  may  impose  various  conditions  as  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  borrowed  funds  may  be  applied. 
If,  for  example,  a  borough  council  decides  to  adopt  the 
permissive  provisions  of  the  acts  relating  to  the  housing  of 
workers,  and  to  undertake  the  expropriation  of  lands  for 
the  erection  of  municipal  tenements,  it  must  get  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Local  Government  Board  before  it  may  borrow 
any  money  for  the  undertaking.  Before  granting  this  per- 
mission the  board  will,  through  one  or  more  of  its  officers, 
conduct  an  inquiry  into  the  merits  of  the  project,  and,  if 
it  gives  its  consent,  will  usually  require  the  scheme  to  be 
carried  out  subject,  in  many  important  respects,  to  its 
further  approval. 

"It  will  undertake  to  see,  for  example,  that  the  new 
dwellings  erected  by  the  council  provide  for  the  housing 
of  as  many  persons  as  have  been  displaced,  that  the  build- 
ings are  of  proper  character,  and  that  the  various  other 
ends  contemplated  by  the  statutes  are  duly  secured.  Many 
other  so-termed  'adoptive  acts'  have  given  broad  powers 
to  the  boroughs,  to  be  exercised  by  them  subject  to  the 
supervision  of  the  Local  Government  Board;  indeed,  the 
existence  of  this  board  as  a  suitable  supervising  authority 
has  prompted  Parliament  to  intrust  borough  councils  with 
much  authority  which  it  would  probably  never  have 
granted  them  to  be  used  without  supervision.  If  the 
boroughs  ask  for  powers  which  seem  in  general  to  be  desir- 
able but  which  might  easily  be  abused,  the  usual  parlia- 
mentary practice  has  been  to  grant  the  privileges  asked  for 
but  to  make  the  Local  Government  Board  responsible  for 
seeing  that  they  are  not  misused.  It  should  be  emphatically 
declared,  however,  that  this  body  is  the  balance-wheel,  and 

*Ibid. 


not  the  engine,  of  local  administration.  It  docs  not  drive 
the  machinery  of  borough  government,  for  this  function 
rests  with  the  borough  council;  but  it  does  see  that  the 
machinery  is  driven  smoothly  and  with  due  regard  to  the 
principles  underlying  the  legislative  mechanism.  The 
initiative,  the  elaboration  of  projects,  and  the  immediate 
supervision  of  all  undertakings  must  be  supplied  locally; 
it  is  for  the  board  to  keep  the  wheels  in  their  proper 
grooves." 

Beyond  these  sublegislative  and  executive 
powers  the  Local  Government  Board  performs 
a  function  which  is  perhaps  still  more  important. 

*"Where  the  Local  Government  Board  has  no  right  of 
interference,  and  where  its  approval  is  not  asked  by  local 
authorities,  it  may  tender  its  advice  for  what  it  is  worth; 
and  this  it  frequently  does.  On  the  other  hand,  any  local 
authority  is  entitled  to  seek  counsel  from  the  board  and  its 
expert  staff,  a  privilege  of  which  the  officials  of  the  bor- 
oughs freely  avail  themselves,  not  infrequently  in  order  to 
find  a  means  of  extricating  themselves  from  serious  legal  or 
administrative  dilemmas.  John  Stuart  Mill  has  somewhere 
remarked  with  great  truth  that  'power  may  be  localized, 
but  knowledge,  to  be  most  useful,  must  be  centralized.' 
At  the  headquarters  of  the  Local  Government  Board  is 
accumulated  a  vast  fund  of  the  most  useful  knowledge 
concerning  every  phase  of  municipal  administration;  a 
wealth  of  statistical  and  other  data  is  there  on  file,  and  some 
of  the  best  legal,  financial,  and  technical  skill  in  England 
is  at  hand  to  interpret  it.  When  the  wording  of  a  new 
statute  is  not  clear  to  a  town  clerk,  when  a  borough 
treasurer  gets  his  accounts  tangled  or  fails  to  agree  with  his 
auditors  on  any  point,  when  a  committee  of  the  borough 
council  is  at  a  loss  to  know  how  it  should  proceed  with  any 
project — in  a  word,  when  any  local  authority  wishes  to  get 
expert  and  reliable  advice  without  having  to  pay  for  it, 
the  first  and  logical  recourse  is  to  Whitehall. 

"Whether  the  question  relates  to  the  extension  of  a 
water  service,  or  to  the  purchase  of  supplies  for  a  local 
hospital,  or  to  the  distribution  of  duties  among  officials,  or 
to  the  wrangles  of  councillors  over  some  rule  of  procedure, 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Local  Government  Board  to  give  its 
counsel  or  advice  whenever  it  is  asked  for.  Not  infre- 
quently, indeed,  the  matter  at  issue  is  so  complicated  that 
the  board  finds  it  necessary  to  send  one  of  its  experts  to 
make  a  personal  inquiry  before  it  feels  justified  in  giving 
its  opinion." 

In  the  field  of  supervision  over  local  finance, 
such  as  the  authorization  of  loans  for  a  great  va- 
riety of  purposes,  in  which  is  included  such  pro- 
jects as  the  development  of  a  town  planning 
scheme  or  the  development  of  a  group  of  work- 
ing-class dwellings  with  their  amenities,  the 
Local  Government  Board  possesses  a  further 
function  beyond  those  referred  to,  which  is  of 
vital  importance  to  the  British  program  of 
housing  and  town  planning.    In  America  there 


»Ibid. 


23 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


is  no  governmental  body  which  exercises  in  this 
field  a  similar  function. 

One  other  phase  of  the  work  of  the  Local 
Government  Board  remains  to  be  noted: 

*"In  the  performance  of  these  varied  functions  it  is,  of 
course,  only  natural  that  the  Local  Government  Board 
should  find  it  necessary  to  employ  a  large  staflF of  officials. 
The  total  number  of  these  now  runs  well  up  into  the 
hundreds,  including  sanitary  engineers,  medical  officers, 
inspectors  of  poorhouses,  workhouses,  auditors,  legal 
experts,  and  many  similar  officers  embodying  a  high  grade 
of  specialized  skill.  All  these  officials  are  appointed  by  the 
crown  on  recommendation  of  the  president  of  the  board; 
they  hold  office  during  good  behavior  and  efficiency;  they 
are  members  of  the  national  civil  service;  and  they  receive 
liberal  remuneration.  Secure  in  the  tenure  of  their  posts, 
responsible  to  the  central  government  alone,  and  hence 
having  no  local  interests  to  serve,  these  officers  are  able  to 
go  about  their  work  in  an  unbiased  frame  of  mind,  and 
hence  have  earned  a  general  reputation  for  impartiality 
and  fearlessness  in  their  recommendations. 

"There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  no  doubt  that  the  Local 
Government  Board  is  not  popular  with  the  local  authorities 
and  that  many  of  these  latter  would  welcome  a  diminution 
of  the  board's  supervisory  jurisdiction.  Were  the  officials 
of  the  board  susceptible  to  partisan  influences,  the  whole 
system  of  central  supervision  would  lose  its  chief  prop, 
which  lies  primarily  in  the  efficiency  and  integrity  of  the 
officers  who  exercise  the  guiding  authority.  Englishmen 
would  scarcely  tolerate  the  supervision  of  their  local  gov- 
ernment by  any  officer  who,  like  the  French  prefect,  at- 
tempted to  combine  the  duties  of  an  administrative  offi- 
cial with  the  activities  of  a  party  agent." 

BRITISH  PRE-WAR  METHODS.    II 

With  this  rather  general  statement  relating 
to  the  drift  of  social  tendencies  during  the  last 
century  and  the  significance  of  certain  elements 
in  the  structure  of  British  municipal  govern- 
ment, we  may  proceed  to  a  study  of  the  specific 
acts  of  legislation  and  the  British  pre-war  tech- 
nique of  housing  and  town  planning.  It  may  be 
well  to  repeat  that  the  conditions  in  Great 
Britain  were  such  during  the  nineteenth  century 
that  it  required  no  exaggeration  of  statements, 
to  borrow  the  title  of  Mr.  Aldridge's  book,  to 
make  out  an  excellent  "Case  for  Town  Plan- 
ning." 

Legislative  Phases 

Specific  legislation  in  this  field  may  be  said  to 
have  been  initiated  in  1846,  and  the  passage  of 
a  series  of  Public  Health  and  Sanitary  Acts  from 
that  day  to  1875  may  be  said  to  have  been  in  the 
nature  of  first  steps  leading  to  the  passage  of  the 
Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  of  1909. 

*ibid. 


The  Public  Health  Act  of  1875  empowered 
Local  Authorities  to  make  by-laws  relating  to 
such  matters  as  the  width  of  streets,  the  sewage 
of  the  same,  construction  of  new  buildings,  the 
space  to  be  provided  about  buildings,  and  to 
certain  related  sanitary  conditions.  It  is  im- 
portant to  observe,  in  connection  with  this  act 
and  the  resulting  regulations  known  as  the 
"model"  by-laws  of  the  period,  that  it  resulted 
in  what  is  now  known  as  "the  new  slum."  It  was 
a  step,  it  is  true,  in  advance  from  the  chaos  of 
the  days  preceding;  but  it  was  at  the  same  time 
responsible  for  the  endless  rows  of  monotonous 
brick  dwellings  having  nothing  but  a  paved 
street  in  front  and  an  ugly  yard  behind.  There 
were  no  amenities  resulting  from  these  by-laws, 
and  the  fields  about  British  cities  became  rapidly 
covered  with  these  stupid  habitations,  quite 
similar,  though  lower  in  height,  to  what  we  see 
growing  up  at  the  present  time  in  and  about  our 
American  cities. 

The  sort  of  structures  which  are  permitted  in 
the  outlying  districts  of  New  York  under  the 
new  districting  regulation,  passed  only  last  year, 
are  quite  as  bad,  if  not  in  many  respects  worse, 
than  the  British  "new  slum"  and  against  which 
the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  of  1909 
was  directed  quite  as  much  as  it  was  against 
any  other  single  condition  which  then  obtained. 

Garden  Cities 

Certain  other  events  which  resulted  in  the 
passage  of  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning 
Act  of  1909,  and  which  were  material  factors  in 
stimulating  housing  and  town  planning  prog- 
ress, were  the  development  of  Bourneville  by 
Mr.  George  Cadbury,  the  foundation  of  Port 
Sunlight  by  Sir  Wm.  Lever,  and  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  garden  city  movement  through  the 
publication  of  that  practical  dream  of  Mr. 
Ebenezer  Howard,  "Garden  Cities  of  Tomor- 
row," which  made  a  strong  public  appeal  and 
awakened  the  entire  nation  to  possibilities  of 
which  the  people  had  not  dreamed. 

The  Garden  City  Association  was  formed; 
studies  of  continental  housing  conditions  were 
made;  several  associations  for  carrying  on  edu- 
cational work  were  organized;  schemes  for  gar- 
den suburb  planning  were  launched  by  private 
and  cooperative  companies.  In  1904  the  Trades 
Union  Congress  took  up  the  work  and,  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  period  referred  to,  forces 


24 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


too  numerous  to  mention  became  allied  with  the 
movement,  which  ended  in  the  organization  of  a 
Deputation  of  the  National  Housing  Reform 
Council  to  the  Government  in  1906  and  the 
ultimate  passage  of  the  Housing  and  Town 
Planning  Act  of  1909. 

The  Tenement  Must  Go 

In  view  of  the  general  tendency  in  America 
at  the  present  moment  to  accept  the  tenement 
house  as  a  permanent  institution,  it  may  be  well 
to  note  that  as  a  result  of  British  experience 
from  1875  to  1909,  during  which  time  sanitation 
reformers  accepted  the  tenement  and  encour- 
aged philanthropists  to  erect  buildings  of  this 
type,  public  opinion  swung  around  completely 
to  a  strong  opposition  against  this  and  to  an 
equally  strong  advocacy  of  the  small  dweUing. 
Everywhere  the  tenement  is  now  condemned, 
except  as  a  mere  temporary  expedient  where 
special  problems  exist  as,  for  example,  in  certain 
areas  of  London  and  Liverpool.  Even  in  such 
localities  the  tenement  is  considered  a  temporary 
element^  and  the  program  of  progress  in  England 
looks  forward  toward  its  complete  eradication. 

The  Beginnings  of  England's  Program 

Twenty-one  years  ago  the  deputation  referred 
to  presented  to  the  British  Government  a  com- 
prehensive program  of  housing  and  town  plan- 
ning reform  which,  I  submit,  might  serve  the 
same  purpose  in  impressing  our  Government. 
As  regards  its  scope,  constructive  suggestion, 
and  presentation  of  the  vital  needs  of  the  day, 
it  should  be  applied  by  us  with  but  slight  modi- 
fications, for  I  believe  firmly  that  unless  we 
adopt  some  similar  comprehensive  program, 
we  shall  very  soon  find  ourselves  face  to  face 
with  a  problem  which  will  require  even  more 
drastic  action. 

After  calling  attention  to  the  failure  of  the 
acts  relating  to  the  better  housing  of  workers, 
which  acts,  it  must  be  admitted,  were  broader 
in  their  scope  and  far  more  effective  than  are 
those  of  a  similar  nature  now  in  existence  in  a 
few  localities  in  the  States,  and  after  pointing 
out  that  the  existing  slums  in  the  British  cities 
would  not  be  removed  during  the  coming 
century  at  the  then-existing  rate  of  progress, 
the  *Deputation  asserted  that  the  causes  for 
such  failure  were  to  be  found  in: 

*The  Case  for  Town  Planning.  A  Practical  Manual  for  the  Use  of 
Councilors,  Officers,  and  Others  Engaged  in  the  Preparation  of  Town 


(a)  The  scarcity  of  the  supply  of  suitable  dwellings 
to  which  the  dwellers  in  overcrowded  and  insanitary  houses 
can  remove, 

ib)  The  imperfect  character  of  existing  powers  relating 
to  the  clearance  of  unhealthy  areas,  and  the  repair  or 
destruction  of  insanitary  houses. 

{c)  The  lack  of  efficient  municipal  powers  to  secure 
the  proper  development  of  new  housing  areas  and  the 
building  of  suitable  houses. 

{d)  The  failure  of  Local  Authorities  to  fulfil  their  pres- 
ent health  and  housing  responsibilities. 

(<?)  The  insufficient  machinery  for  securing  effective 
inspection,  control,  and  stimulus  by  the  Central  Authority. 

[It  is  significant  that  the  traditional  attitude  toward 
land  in  England  had  not  then  undergone  the  change  which 
now  has  taken  place  so  rapidly,  and  thus  the  prime  govern- 
ing factor  in  house-shortage  and  congestion  was  almost 
wholly  ignored. — F.  L.  A.] 

But  do  not  these  statements  recall  similar  ex- 
isting conditions  in  the  United  States? 

Among  the  specific  suggestions  looking  toward 
reform  should  be  noted  the  following  state- 
ment: 

*The  reforms  we  advocate  are  as  follows — 

I.  Local  Authorities  Should  Be  Stimulated  to  Carry  Out 

Their  Duties  Under  the  Health  and  Housing  Acts: 
(a)  By  conferring  a  power  of  initiative  and  stimulation 
on  any  four  persons  in  the  district,  not  only  with  regard  to 
nuisances  and  unhealthy  dwellings,  but  also  in  respect  of 
any  necessary  modifications  of  by-laws  (as  well  as  the 
provision  of  new  dwellings,  as  in  the  Irish  Labourers'  Acts). 

(d)  The  Central  Government  should  appoint  health 
and  housing  inspectors  to  visit  the  various  districts,  to 
advise  Local  Authorities  as  to  the  best  methods  of  dealing 
with  housing  improvements,  to  report  on  cases  of  neglect, 
to  temporarily  supersede,  if  necessary,  councils  continuing 
to  neglect  their  duties,  and  to  carry  out  the  necessary  work 
at  their  expense. 

(e)  Special  public  enquiries  should  be  held  by  the  Local 
Government  Board  in  certain  selected  districts  with  the 
highest  death-rates. 

II.  There  Should  Be  Amendments  of  the  Public  Health 

Acts  to  Secure  That: 

{a)  Compulsory  house-to-house  inspection  in  every 
part  of  every  district  should  be  made  by  every  Local 
Authority,  instead  of  the  intermittent  or  partial  inspection 
now  generally  made; 

{b)  There  should  be  a  statutory  duty  on  all  Local 
Authorities  to  appoint  properly  qualified  medical  officers 
and  sanitary  inspectors  to  give  their  whole  time  to  their 
duties,  and  such  officers  should  not  be  removable  except 
with  the  consent  of  the  Local  Government  Board. 

III.  Closing  and  Demolition  of  Unhealthy  Dwellings: 
Local  Authorities  should  be  empowered  to  make  a 

closing  order  which  should  take  effect  unless  an  appeal 

Planning   Schemes.     By    Henry    R.    Aldridge.     London,    1915.    The 
National  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Council. 
*Ibid. 


25 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


be  made  within  fourteen  days  to  the  local  magistrates, 
and  if  the  house  be  not  made  fit  for  human  habitation 
within  four  months  of  the  date  of  making  the  order, 
demolition  should  automatically  follow  without  further 
proceedings. 

IV.  Clearance  o^  Slum  Areas: 

The  Deputation  consider  that  the  owner  of  property 
which  is  dangerous  to  human  health  should  be  treated  in 
the  same  way  as  the  owner  of  diseased  meat. 

V.  The  Creation  oj  Model  Suburbs: 

Local  Authorities  should  be  fully  enabled  to  purchase 
and  hold  large  estates  in  land  on  their  outskirts  and  to 
deal  with  such  land  on  similar  lines  to  those  adopted  at 
Bourneville,  and,  to  secure  this  end,  Local  Authorities 
(subject,  in  the  case  of  parish  and  district  councils,  to  the 
consent  of  the  higher  authorities)  should  be  allowed  to 
acquire  such  cheap  and  suitable  land  in  large  quantities 
to  use,  or  hold,  or  lease,  without  necessarily  specifying  any 
immediate  purpose  or  detailed  scheme. 

Vn.  Compulsory  Purchase  of  Land: 

The  procedure  for  compulsory  purchase  of  land  should 
be  shortened,  cheapened,  and  simplified.  It  is  further 
suggested — 

{a)  That  the  basis  of  any  compulsory  purchase  of  land 
required  by  public  bodies  should  be  the  capital  value  of 
the  land  as  declared  by  the  proper  valuation  authority,  or 
by  special  commissioners,  as  in  the  case  of  the  income  tax 
(subject  to  an  additional  exceptional  allowance  of  a  pre- 
determined and  limited  extra  percentage  for  severance  and 
other  special  circumstances). 

VIII.  Town  and  Village  Development  Commission: 

(a)  A  central  commission,  or  a  special  department  of 
the  Local  Government  Board  with  extensive  powers  as  to 
land,  housing  and  transit,  should  be  established  to  consider 
the  main  conditions  of  growth  of  the  various  districts  in 
the  country  and,  where  the  county  or  borough  area  is 
not  suitable,  to  map  out  what  may  be  called  "Scientific 
Areas,"  for  each  of  which  there  should  be  subsequently 
established  a  statutory  committee  consisting,  as  to  a 
majority,  of  representatives  of  the  Local  Authorities,  and, 
as  to  the  remainder,  of  experts  nominated  by  the  Central 
Commissioners. 

IX.  Rural  Housing,  Small  Holdings,  and  Other  Village 

Developments: 

Local  Authorities  and  these  bodies  in  suitable  districts 
should  be  empowered  and  assisted 

{a)  To  promote  the  proper  development  of  villages  by 
encouraging  the  provision  of  adequate  and  cheap  means  of 
transit,  small  holdings,  and  cooperative  agricultural 
societies;  and 

{b)  To  take  definite  action  to  secure  that  proper 
schemes  of  colonization  of  certain  rural  districts  shall  be 
carried  out. 

X.  Town-Extension  Planning: 

Local  Authorities,  or  groups  of  Local  Authorities,  should 
be  empowered  to  make  plans  for  town  extension  dealing 


with  the  development  of  the  land  on  the  outskirts  and 
prepared  in  good  time  so  as  to  meet  future  needs,  especially 
as  to  main  roads,  open  spaces,  and  sites  for  public  buildings 
or  workmen's  dwellings. 

XL  Cheaper  Money: 

(a)  The  Public  Works  Loans  Commissioners  should 
lend  money  for  housing  purposes  up  to  eighty  years  to 
public  bodies,  and,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Local 
Government  Board,  to  the  extent  of  not  more  than  80 
per  cent,  to  recognized  societies  of  public  utility  building  on 
municipal  land,  at  the  lowest  market  rate  at  which  the 
Treasury  can  raise  money  at  the  time. 

(b)  The  restrictions  which  prevent  the  funds  of  savings 
banks,  charities,  and  ecclesiastical  bodies  from  being  in- 
vested in  housing  schemes  should  be  removed  so  long  as  this 
can  be  done  without  detriment  to  the  funds. 

XII.  Revision  0/  By-laws: 

(a)  By-laws  should  be  strengthened  in  the  direction  of 
securing  more  open  spaces  and  larger  gardens  when  new 
housing  estates  are  developed.  There  should  be  a  clause 
prohibiting,  except  under  special  conditions,  the  building 
of  more  than  a  certain  number  of  houses  or  rooms  per  acre, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  district. 

(b)  By-laws  as  to  new  roads  should  make  provision  for 
a  new  and  less  expensive  type  of  street,  when  used  solely 
for  access  to  groups  of  cottages,  by  requiring  only  part  of 
the  roadway  to  be  made  up. 

(c)  By-laws  as  to  the  structure  of  walls  and  buildings 
should  be  revised  in  the  direction  of  avoiding  unnecessary 
expense,  while  encouraging  the  use  of  new  materials  and 
better  methods  of  construction. 

While  the  method  of  executing  these  proposals 
does  not  exactly  apply  to  American  conditions, 
there  are  none  among  them  which  do  not  offer 
most  constructive  suggestions.  As  a  result  of 
this  effort  upon  the  part  of  the  Deputation,  the 
growing  public  interest  in  the  question,  and  the 
able  leadership  of  Mr.  John  Burns,  Parliament 
passed  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act 
of  1909. 

This  Act  is  too  detailed  and  too  local  in  its 
provisions  to  be  inserted,  but  it  is  absolutely 
essential  to  set  forth  a  summary  of  its  more  im- 
portant provisions. 

*A  Brief  Summary  of  the  Town  Planning 
Powers  and  Duties  of  Local  Authorities 
Under  the  Act  of  1909. 

The  Scope  of  a  Town  Planning  Scheme 

Local  Authorities  may,  with  the  permission  of  the  Local 
Government  Board,  place  in  hand  the  preparation  of  Town 
Planning  Schemes  governing  all  new  building  developments 
in  their  areas  or  adjacent  to  their  areas,  thus  securing  that 
the  faults  of  bad  planning  in  the  past  shall  not  be  repeated 
in  the  future.  This  power  to  prepare  Town  Planning  Schemes 

*Ibid. 


26 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


does  not,  however,  apply  to  the  remodeling  of  the  existing 
town,  the  replanning  of  badly  planned  areas,  the  driving 
of  new  roads  through  old  parts  of  a  town — all  these  are 
beyond  the  scope  of  the  new  town  planning  powers. 

The  Effect  of  a  Town  Planning  Scheme  When 
Prepared 

When  a  town  planning  scheme  has  been  prepared  in 
accordance  with  the  procedure  laid  down  by  the  Local 
Government  Board,  it  will  govern  the  development  of  the 
areas  to  which  it  applies,  and  all  the  owners  and  others 
interested  in  the  land  included  in  the  area  to  which  the 
scheme  applies,  must  act  in  accordance  with  the  provisions 
of  the  scheme.  This  will  not  mean  that,  as  a  result  of  the 
making  of  the  plan,  roads  will  at  once  be  constructed  and  the 
developments  marked  on  the  plan  carried  into  effect.  The 
making  of  a  town  plan — and  this  applies  to  town  planning, 
both  in  continental  countries  and  in  Great  Britain — is  in 
effect  the  definite  fixing  of  the  lines  which  the  development 
shall  take  when,  either  in  the  opinion  of  the  private  owner 
or  of  the  Local  Authority,  the  time  has  arrived  for  the 
development  to  be  made. 

The  Objects  of  a  Town  Planning  Scheme 

The  objects  to  be  attained  by  the  preparation  of  a  town 
planning  scheme  are  defined  as  "proper  sanitary  conditions, 
amenity  and  convenience,"  and  provisions  relating  to 
these  objects  may  be  inserted  in  a  town  planning  scheme. 

The  Securing  of  Proper  Sanitary  Conditions 
and  Amenity 

In  regard  to  proper  sanitary  provisions  and  amenity, 
Local  Authorities,  in  preparing  town  planning  schemes, 
may  include  provisions  in  respect  of  the  following: 

1.  The  limitation  of  the  number  of  dwellings  per  acre 
through  the  area  included  in  the  scheme; 

2.  The  reservation  of  certain  areas  for  residential 
purposes; 

3.  The  defining  of  shopping  centers  and  the  limitation 
of  the  erection  of  warehouses  and  factories  to  certain 
areas; 

4.  The  fixing  of  conditions  governing  the  height  and 
character  of  the  buildings  to  be  erected  in  various  parts  of 
the  area  included  in  the  scheme; 

5.  The  fixing  of  a  definite  proportion  between  the  site 
actually  covered  by  a  building  and  the  area  of  garden  or 
other  form  of  curtilage  to  the  building; 

6.  The  granting  of  power  to  the  Local  Authority  to 
purchase  land  for  open  spaces  at  prices  to  be  defined  in  the 
scheme  itself  (or  in  agreements  added  thereto)  or  to  accept 
gifts  of  land  from  owners,  such  land  to  be  dedicated  to  the 
use  of  the  public; 

7.  The  fixing  of  building-lines  and  the  requiring  those 
building  houses  to  set  back  their  cottages  (at  such  distances 
as  may  be  prescribed  in  the  scheme)  to  secure  the  provision 
of  proper  air-space  and  sunlight  for  each  home; 

8.  The  use  of  private  open  spaces  and  the  preservation 
of  these  and  of  objects  of  national  interest  or  natural 
beauty; 

9.  The  framing  of  regulations  requiring  owners  of  private 
gardens,  allotments,  or  private  open  spaces,  to  keep  them 
in  proper  order; 


10.  The  prohibition  of  advertisements  which  may 
interfere  with  the  amenity  of  the  district; 

11.  The  forbidding  of  the  erection  of  houses  on  unsuit- 
able sites — e.g.,  swampy  land; 

12.  The  fixing  of  minimum  sizes  of  habitable  rooms; 

13.  The  variation  of  conditions  of  building  con- 
struction. 

By  a  clause  specially  added  in  the  committee  stage,  the 
giving  of  compensation  to  owners  in  those  cases  where 
Local  Authorities,  with  the  approval  of  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board,  place  limits  in  regard  to  the  number  of  build- 
ings per  acre,  the  height  and  character  of  the  build- 
ings, is  guarded  against. 

This  power  is  of  especial  value  and  has  been  described  as 
worth  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  powers  of  the  Act  taken 
together.  In  effect,  the  possession  of  this  power  enables 
Local  Authorities  to  secure  that,  as  new  areas  are  developed, 
the  provision  of  gardens  and  open  spaces  shall  be  such  as  to 
secure  the  health  and  amenity  of  the  district  without  plac- 
ing a  financial  burden  on  the  community  to  secure  this 
desirable  end. 

The  Power  of  Local  Authorities  to  Develop  Estates 
and  Make  Roads  Under  Town  Planning  Schemes 

In  regard  to  convenience.  Local  Authorities  may,  under 
town  planning  schemes,  frame  wide  and  varied  provisions 
to  secure  that,  on  the  one  hand,  the  growing  traffic  needs 
of  their  districts  shall  be  adequately  met,  and  that,  on  the 
other  hand,  where  relaxations  of  conditions  as  to  road- 
width  can  be  made  with  safety,  the  cost  of  road-making 
shall  thus  be  lessened. 

The  preparation  of  town  planning  schemes  gives,  in 
effect,  to  Local  Authorities  invaluable  opportunities  of 
studying  the  traffic  needs  of  their  districts  and  of  substitut- 
ing, for  the  present  36  feet  and  40  feet  standards  of  road- 
width,  other  standards  comprising,  at  the  one  end  of  the 
scale,  the  arterial  road  of  from  60  to  120  feet  in  width,  and, 
at  the  other  end  of  the  scale,  the  short  residential  road  with 
only  20  feet  of  constructed  road,  but  with  a  distance  of  from 
60  to  80  feet  between  the  houses  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
roads. 

In  other  words,  under  a  town  planning  scheme,  a  Local 
Authority  may  provide  for  the  construction  of  not  one,  but 
several,  types  of  road,  including: 

(a)  Main  arterial  roads  from  60  to  120  feet  or  more  in 
width; 

(^)  Secondary  streets  from  40  to  50  feet  in  width; 

(f)  Short  streets,  not  taking  through  traffic,  with  widths 
of  20,  24,  and  30  feet. 

(d)  Quadrangles  served  by  access  roads  of  only  7  feet 
in  width. 

Local  Authorities  may  themselves  undertake  the 
development  of  estates  by  purchasing  land,  making  roads, 
and  leasing  the  sites  or  building  cottages  themselves.  This 
power  is,  however,  subject  to  certain  limitations.  These 
limitations  are  dealt  with  in  Part  11. 

From  this  short  analysis  it  will  be  seen  that,  taken  to- 
gether, these  powers  may  be  regarded  as  giving  to  those 
Local  Authorities  who  realize  the  need  for  exercising  control 
over  the  processes  of  town  and  village  growth  powers  of  a 
most  valuable  kind. 


27 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


Such,  in  brief,  are  the  major  provisions  of  this 
Act. 

Before  leaving  the  subject,  it  should  be  noted 
— and  this  is  a  point  of  utmost  importance — 
that  in  the  Act  it  is  stated  that  the  Local  Gov- 
ernment Board  may  prescribe  a  set  of  general 
provisions  (local  rules  or  by-laws)  or  separate 
sets  of  general  provisions  adopted  for  areas  of  a 
special  character.  Up  to  the  present  time  the 
Local  Government  Board  has  not  deemed  it  wise 
to  issue  a  set  or  sets  of  general  provisions,  an 
exceedingly  wise  policy.  Apparently  this  method 
of  procedure  leaves  to  the  process  of  evolution 
the  determination  of  the  details  which  should  be 
incorporated  in  a  "scheme."  The  work  which 
has  thus  far  been  accomplished  by  the  several 
Local  Authorities  and  that  which  will  follow 
will  greatly  serve  to  crystallize,  through  trial 
and  experimentation,  the  basis  of  the  general 
provisions  which  the  Local  Government  Board 
will  put  forth. 

BRITISH  PRE-WAR  METHODS.    Ill 

So  much  has  been  written  about  Port  Sun- 
light, Bourneville,  and  Letchworth  that  one 
hesitates  to  repeat.  Yet  it  seems  vital  to  an 
understanding  of  the  situation  in  Great  Britain 
to  consider  certain  aspects  of  these  two  examples 
of  housing  and  town  planning  as  typical  of 
other  developments  in  presenting  a  complete 
picture  of  the  British  pre-war  technique.  It  was 
the  garden  city  movement  which  played  a  vital 
part  in  the  evolution  of  housing  and  town  plan- 
ning legislation  just  considered,  and  it  is  this 
movement  which  is  certain  to  play  an  even 
greater  part  in  the  social  and  economic  develop- 
ment of  England  after  the  war. 

Cooperative  Enterprise 

By  way  of  explanation  to  the  American 
reader,  it  should  be  made  clear  that  there  is  a 
wide  and  vital  distinction  in  England  between 
what  is  known  as  the  "garden  city"  and  the 
"garden  suburb."  The  one  refers  to  a  com- 
munity wherein  are  found  homes  for  all  classes, 
and  for  industry,  with  agricultural  land  suf- 
ficient to  maintain  the  inhabitants  in  nearly  all 
the  essentials,  and  the  amenities;  while  the 
garden  suburb,  as  the  name  implies,  refers 
merely  to  a  collection  of  homes,  small  shops, 
and  community  buildings.  Letchworth  is  a  gar- 
den city;  Hampstead  is  a  garden  suburb. 


Letchworth 

The  social  and  financial  organization  of  these 
communities  can  be  most  clearly  stated  by 
quoting  directly  from  a  summary  by  Mr. 
Edward  S.  Culpin  in  his  book  on  the  "Garden 
City  Movement  up  to  Date."  Of  Letchworth 
he  says: 

*"The  estate,  of  now  4,566  acres,  is  the  property  of 
First  Garden  City  Ltd.,  a  company  with  a  dividend 
limited  to  5  per  cent  cumulative,  whose  memoranda  and 
articles  embody  the  root  principles  of  the  movement.  The 
town  is  situated  thirty-four  miles  from  London  on  the 
Great  Northern  Railway,  just  beyond  the  old  market  town 
of  Hitchin.  It  is  served  also  by  the  Midland  Railway  from 
Hitchin,  and  being  bounded  by  the  Great  North  Road 
traffic  facilities  are  excellent. 

"First  Garden  City  Ltd.,  being  the  owners  of  what  was 
practically  virgin  land,  have  had  themselves  to  provide  the 
necessary  equipment  of  the  town,  which,  in  the  case  of  the 
garden  suburbs,  is  derived  from  neighbouring  towns.  Thus 
the  company  own  the  gas,  water,  and  electric  light  under- 
takings; they  have  made  the  roads;  they  provide  and  main- 
tain the  sewers  and  the  sewage  disposal  works;  and  they 
have  organized  such  facilities  as  an  omnibus  service, 
swimming  bath,  etc.,  to  encourage  the  growth  and  ameni- 
ties of  the  town. 

"Besides  the  Bye-laws  of  the  Hitchin  Rural  District 
Council,  under  whose  jurisdiction  Letchworth  is,  the  com- 
pany has  its  own  building  regulations  and  its  surveyor 
exercises  some  supervision  over  designs  and  specifications 
to  ensure  proper  conditions  being  observed.  The  maximum 
of  houses  allowed  to  the  acre  is  twelve,  but  as  the  size  of 
the  house  increases  so  does  the  area  of  the  plot,  so  that  all 
over  the  building  area  (which  is  1,200  acres  only,  the 
remainder  being  agricultural  and  park  land)  there  will 
probably  be  an  average  of  not  more  than  half  that  number. 
An  ultimate  population  of  30,000  people  is  provided  for  on 
the  town  area,  or  35,000  including  the  agricultural  belt. 
Thus,  over  the  whole  of  the  seven  square  miles  of  Garden 
City,  there  will  be  an  average  of  only  nine  people  to  the 
acre,  compared  with  the  two  or  three  hundred  still  allowed 
by  the  Bye-laws  of  many  towns. 

"The  agricultural  belt  of  3,000  acres  marks  a  funda- 
mental difference  between  Letchworth  and  every  other 
experiment  on  garden  city  lines,  and,  indeed,  distinguishes 
it  from  every  other  town  in  the  world.  Many  places  have 
belts  or  girdles  of  green,  but  none  has  a  definite  provision 
such  as  this;  and  as  in  the  town  the  way  is  pointed  for  a  new 
tradition  of  development,  so  it  is  hoped  that  the  agri- 
cultural belt  will  help  in  the  solution  of  some  of  the  rural 
problems.  A  good  deal  of  attention  has  been  given  to  small 
holdings,  especially  in  the  direction  of  milk  production, 
and  recently  an  exhaustive  inquiry  has  been  made  with  a 
view  to  assisting  in  this  development. 

"An  important  side  of  the  Letchworth  experiment,  and 
indeed  the  crucial  test,  is  the  development  of  its  factory 
area.    If  Mr.   Howard's    theory   had    not   been   sound, 

•Garden  City  Movement  up  to  Date.  By  Edward  S.  Culpin.  Lon- 
don, 1914.    Garden  Cities  and  Town  Planning  Association. 


28 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


manufacturers  would  not  have  gone  to  Letchworth  and 
the  place  would  never  have  developed.  There  are  now  some 
thirty  industries  established  in  the  town,  and  several  of 
these  have  been  very  considerably  extended.  The  trades 
represented  include  engineering,  printing,  embroidery, 
bookbinding,  photographic  utensils,  joinery  works,  pottery, 
weaving,  commercial  motor  engineers,  motor  car  makers, 
metal  works,  organ  builders,  seed  and  implement  factories, 
scientific  instrument  makers,  colour  printers,  corset 
makers,  etc.  There  are  five  building  companies  working 
on  the  estate.  An  interesting  feature  is  the  cooperative 
house  'Homesgarth.' 

"The  town  is  complete  with  every  facility  for  commerce, 
trade  and  social  life.  Its  residential  facilities  are  excellent, 
and  as  a  place  of  residence  alone  it  is  being  much  sought 
after.  The  industrial  population  have  here  advantages 
which  have  been  possessed  by  no  other  town  in  the  country. 
Its  housing  is  good,  the  gardens  are  ample,  and  there  are 
many  opportunities  for  recreation  and  social  life.  Church 
life  and  education  are  well  provided  for.  There  are  several 
public  halls,  and  the  arrangements  for  water,  lighting  and 
sanitation  arc  as  near  perfect  as  they  can  be.  Its  scope  is 
infinitely  greater  and  presents  the  solution  of  more  serious 
problems  than  any  suburb  of  a  town  can  possibly  do. 

"Letchworth  has  been  described  as  England's  healthiest 
town.  Both  with  regard  to  the  general  death-rate  and 
infantile  mortality  the  figures  are  far  below  any  other  place 
in  the  country." 

Hampstead 
And  of  Hampstead  garden  suburb  he  says: 

*"The  growth  of  the  Estate  has  been  phenomenal. 
Since  the  first  sod  was  cut  on  May  2nd,  1907, 1,550  houses 
have  been  built  and  occupied,  with  an  estimated  population 
of  5,000  people. 

"The  value  of  the  houses  and  public  buildings  on  the 
Estate  is  estimated  at  £800,000,  representing,  with  the  land 
and  roads,  a  capital  value  of  over  £1,000,000,  while  the 
ground  rent  secured  amounts  to  no  less  than  £1 1,330  out  of 
a  total  estimated  rental  of  £15,000.  Dividends  at  the  rate 
of  5  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  ordinary  shares  have  been 
paid  during  the  past  four  years. 

"The  end  of  the  first  portion  of  the  Estate  (240  acres) 
being  in  sight,  the  Directors  have  acquired  another  112 
acres  of  land  from  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  while 
the  Copartnership  Tenants  Limited,  who  have  been  respon- 
sible for  the  development  of  a  large  portion  of  the  original 
area,  have  taken  up  80  acres  of  the  added  portion  and  have 
also  taken  300  acres  direct  from  the  same  authorities, 
making  a  total  of  one  square  mile  of  land,  the  whole  of 
which  will  be  planned  by  the  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb 
Trust  Ltd. 

One  must  include  as  a  most  important  factor 
or  element  in  the  development  of  both  the  gar- 
den city  and  the  garden  suburb,  the  Public 
Utility  Society  where  the  central  idea  is  the 
substitution  for  the  personal  ownership  of  the 
individual  home  without  any  responsibility  for 

♦Ibid. 


the  condition  of  the  surrounding  estate,  of  the 
principle  of  ownership  of  shares  in  a  company, 
these  shares  carrying  the  right  of  tenancy  of 
the  house  and  the  acceptance  of  definite  collec- 
tive responsibility  for  estate  management. 

Finally,  these  results  are  made  possible  by 
the  fact  that  loans  may  be  obtained  from  the 
Government  for  a  long  period  of  years  at  a  rate 
approximating  that  which  the  Government  has 
to  pay. 

THE  WAR  PROGRAM:  LAND 

The  foregoing,  in  very  broad  outlines,  is  the 
background  against  which  we  must  examine  the 
methods  of  industrial  housing  conducted  by  the 
British  Government  during  the  war.  As  an 
essential  part  of  this  background,  one  might 
naturally  include  conditions  surrounding  the 
acquisition  of  land;  but,  inasmuch  as  land  for 
industrial  housing  purposes  was  acquired  during 
the  war  under  the  authority  of  the  Defense  of 
the  Realm  Act,  it  seems  best  to  consider  the 
land  question  under  the  heading  of  the  "War 
Program." 

Prior  to  the  war,  there  were  two  ways  through 
which  land  could  be  acquired  by  the  State, 
namely,  the  Prerogative  and  the  Defense  Acts 
and  the  Military  Lands  Acts.  These  two  Acts, 
however,  are  not  often  used  because  the  ma- 
chinery is  cumbersome,  and,  in  the  case  of  the 
second,  the  methods  of  assessing  compensation 
is  extremely  favorable  to  the  owners  of  the  land. 
These  need  not  concern  us  for  the  moment,  for  it 
was  under  the  Defense  of  the  Realm  Act  and  the 
regulations  made  thereunder  that  land  has  been 
almost  exclusively  taken  during  the  war.  Under 
this  Act,  His  Majesty  has  power,  by  order  in 
Council,  to  make  regulations  "for  securing  pub- 
lic safety  and  the  defense  of  the  realm."  These 
regulations,  when  made,  have  the  same  effect 
as  if  they  were  a  part  of  the  statute,  provided, 
of  course,  that  they  are  within  the  powers  con- 
ferred by  the  statute.  A  detailed  statement  of 
purposes  for  which  land  could  be  thus  taken  is 
set  forth  in  the  Defense  of  the  Realm  Consoli- 
dation Act  of  1914.  It  is  important  to  study  the 
Acts  themselves  and  the  regulations  at  present 
in  force.  These  are  published  quarterly  in  the 
"Defense  of  the  Realm  Manual  of  Emergency 
Legislation."  Regulations  2  to  5  enable  the 
Government,  where  necessary  for  the  purpose 
of  the  defense  of  the  realm,  to  take  land  or 


29 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


buildings  for  military  or  naval  purposes,  or  for 
the  purposes  of  agriculture  and  the  provision  of 
food.  It  is  important  to  note  that  no  compen- 
sation is  mentioned  in  any  of  the  Defense  of  the 
Realm  Acts  or  the  regulations. 

Compensation  to  Owners 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  under  the  above 
regulations,  land  was  taken  for  the  purposes  of 
the  war.  Hotels  were  taken  for  the  use  of  public 
departments;  poor,  law,  and  charitable  insti- 
tutions and  local  Government  institutions  were 
taken  for  hospitals  and  housing  of  workers. 
The  question  of  compensation  was  left  in  the 
air  or  settled  by  agreement  in  which  the  Gov- 
ernment agreed  to  pay  the  bare  loss.  To  provide 
for  the  conditions  where  an  agreement  as  to 
compensation  could  not  be  reached,  and  in  cases 
not  otherwise  provided  for  by  the  law,  the 
Defense  of  the  Realm  (Losses)  Commission  was 
appointed  on  Dec.  31,  191 5.  The  reports  of  this 
Commission  are  important  to  consider  in  detail, 
for  they  set  up  the  principles  upon  which  com- 
pensation should  be  paid.  In  brief,  the  principle 
is  that  the  person  deprived  of  land  merely  gets 
compensation  for  the  bare  loss  which  he  has  suf- 
fered; if  the  land  was  not  being  used  he  gets 
nothing  except  for  damage  directly  done. 

While  this  may  or  may  not  be  a  satisfactory 
solution  of  the  problem  as  regards  temporary 
occupancy,  it  was  felt  about  the  middle  of  191 6 
that  something  more  should  be  done  for  land- 
owners. Realizing  that  the  war  would  probably 
last  for  some  time  to  come,  it  was  deemed  wise 
to  provide  a  new  system  of  compensation.  Con- 
sequently, on  Dec.  22,  1916,  the  Defense  of  the 
Realm  Acquisition  of  Land  Act  was  passed. 
This  provided  for  a  system  of  compensation 
considerably  more  generous  than  had  been 
given  by  the  Losses  Commission,  but  consider- 
ably less  generous  than  that  provided  by  the 
Land  Loss  Act. 

It  should  be  clearly  kept  in  mind  that  this  Act 
does  not  deal  with  compensation  for  the  occupa- 
tion of  land  during  the  period  of  the  war.  This 
is  still  paid  either  by  agreement  or  under  the 
Defense  of  the  Realm  (Losses)  Commission. 
The  act  deals  mainly  with:* 

I .  Temporary  occupancy  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  war. 

♦Briefed  from  a  memorandum  prepared  for  the  Journal  by  Mr.  J. 
C.  Miles  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  London. 


2.  Permanent  occupation. 

3.  The  power  of  the  Crown  to  sell  at  a  later 
date. 

4.  Principles  of  compensation. 

In  this  the  technique  of  the  Land  Clauses  Act 
is  retained  but  the  principles  of  compensation 
are  modified  by  the  schedule.  Article  6  of  the 
schedule  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  for  by 
virtue  of  this  article  the  value  of  the  land  is  its 
value  at  the  commencement  of  the  war.  This 
is  a  point  of  the  utmost  importance.  The  Govern- 
ment therefore  avoids  paying  for  an  increment 
which  it  creates  by  its  own  effort. 

5.  Provision  of  a  tribunal  to  determine  com- 
pensation. (The  Act  also  deals  with  a  number 
of  other  difficult  questions.) 

We  may  briefly  summarize  the  situation  as 
regards  the  occupation  of  land  for  war  purposes 
as  follows: 

Through  the  powers  set  up  in  the  Defense  of 
the  Realm  Act,  the  state  took  possession  of  land 
without  considering  the  question  of  compensa- 
tion. Where  the  occupation  is  temporary,  for 
the  period  of  the  war  or  a  shorter  time,  compen- 
sation is  payable,  either  by  agreement  or  is 
assessed  by  the  Defense  of  the  Realm  (Losses) 
Commission.  For  land  occupied  temporarily  or 
permanently  for  a  period  after  the  war,  compen- 
sation is  determined  by  the  Defense  of  the  Realm 
(Acquisition  of  Land)  Act.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  method  of  settlement  is  complex  because  of 
the  different  systems  of  compensation  for  occu- 
pancy during  the  war  and  for  occupancy  there- 
after, and  that  the  first  is  not  statutory,  whereas 
the  second  is  done  under  statutory  powers. 
While  it  would  be  convenient  to  bring  the  whole 
scheme  under  legislative  enactment,  one  cannot 
but  realize,  after  examining  the  documents  re- 
lating to  the  establishment  of  the  basis  of  settle- 
ment, that  the  procedure  of  immediate  action 
adopted  by  the  Government  in  its  Defense  of 
the  Realm  program  was  the  one  absolutely 
certain  way  of  meeting  the  situation. 

Details  of  the  English  Operations 

So  much  for  the  general  executive  and  finan- 
cial aspect  of  wartime  housing.  Let  us  consider 
for  a  moment  the  physical  side.  One  thing 
strikes  the  observer  forcibly  in  practically  all  of 
the  larger  operations  conducted  by  the  Govern- 
ment. These  communities  are  complete.  They 
are  laid  out  along  the  latest  ideas  of  housing  and 


30 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


town  planning.  They  contain,  beyond  the  cot- 
tages (permanent  and  temporary)  for  industrial 
workers,  dining-halls,  recreation  buildings,  clubs, 
institutes,  schools,  playgrounds,  churches,  hospi- 
tals, stores,  markets,  and  they  are  provided  with 
excellent  roads  with  curbs,  sidewalks,  fences, 
hedges,  and,  in  many  cases,  trees  have  already 
been  planted.  The  permanent  elements — and 
these  are  not  confined  to  cottages,  but  include 
many  of  the  amenities  noted  above — in  arrange- 
ment, design,  materials,  and  the  amount  of 
space  surrounding  each  cottage  unit,  compare 
most  favorably  with  any  of  the  similar  opera- 
tions developed  prior  to  the  war;  in  fact,  in  some 
of  them  it  seems  to  me  that  I  observed  a  definite 
step  in  advance.  As  I  passed  through  a  number 
of  these,  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  for  me  to 
grasp  the  idea  that  the  first  sod  was  turned  very 
little  over  two  years  ago.  There  were  no  ragged 
edges.  The  characteristic  British  thoroughness 
was  everywhere  expressed. 

During  the  early  stages  of  the  war,  England 
first  embarked  upon  a  policy  of  erecting  tem- 
porary hotels  and  cottages,  but  when  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  struggle  was  fully  grasped,  and  it 
was  realized  that  the  shortage  of  materials  used 
in  temporary  structures  carried  their  cost  to 
very  nearly  that  of  permanent  structures,  the 
general  policy  was  changed,  and  from  that  time 
on  the  central  idea  has  been  to  build  of  per- 
manent materials  wherever  it  was  humanly 
possible  so  to  do. 

Of  the  permanent  cottages,  nothing  in  par- 
ticular need  be  stated  beyond  this:  They  are 
quite  as  good  in  every  respect  as  the  best  ex- 
amples constructed  prior  to  the  war.  They  are 
somewhat  simpler  in  design  and,  in  consequence, 
I  think,  rather  more  appropriate. 

The  Amenities   and  Their  Vital  Value 
in  Production 

One  other  point  should  be  emphasized:  We 
must  not  limit  our  concept  of  housing  operations 
to  the  question  of  cottage  erection  and  the  provi- 
sion merely  of  sidewalks  and  roads.  In  the  orig- 
inal plans  for  these  various  industrial  towns, 
England  included  a  great  variety  of  buildings 
and  features  which  come  under  the  general 
head  of  "amenities."  Owing  to  the  urgency  of 
war's  demands,  the  scarcity  of  labor  and  ma- 
terials, in  some  cases  the  immediate  erection  of 
these  was  omitted  from  the  construction  pro- 


gram. It  is  significant  that  very  shortly  after 
the  plants  were  put  into  operation  every  possible 
source  of  energy  was  then  directed  toward  the 
immediate  erection  of  these  missing  elements. 
These  were  added  for  a  very  definite  reason:  It 
was  hoped  that  by  their  addition  to  the  housing 
elements  the  very  serious  daily  labor  "turn- 
over" would  be  reduced.  Such  proved  to  be  the 
case,  and,  in  the  later  schemes,  it  is  interesting 
to  observe  that  the  construction  and  provision 
of  the  amenities  goes  forward  at  the  same  rate 
of  speed  as  does  the  erection  of  the  cottages  and 
the  plant. 

It  may  not  be  evident  from  the  drawings  and 
from  the  few  photographs  available  at  this  date 
how  adequately  do  these  new  Government  con- 
structed industrial  towns  express  an  integrated 
purpose.  They  give  evidence  to  a  broad  imagin- 
ative concept  which  is  in  scale  with  the  needs  of 
the  day.  They  prove  the  value  of  focusing  ex- 
pert knowledge  upon  a  single  problem,  for  it  is, 
upon  final  analysis,  not  a  hundred  difi^erent 
problems;  it  is  rather  a  single  problem  with  per- 
haps a  score  of  variations.  Why  should  we 
waste  effort  in  the  organization  of  a  hundred 
enterprises  which  in  turn  must  each  have  its 
many  subdivisions  of  organization?  Our  prob- 
lem is  to  conserve  our  energies. 

In  the  light  of  my  recent  experience,  viewing 
for  the  moment  the  British  and  the  American 
problem  at  a  little  distance,  I  cannot  but  feel 
that  our  proposals  for  carrying  forward  the 
work  of  housing  the  rapidly  expanding  army  of 
munitions  workers  is  little  more  than  a  feeble 
gesture.  If  we  are  to  succeed  to  a  degree  in  any 
way  comparable  with  Britain's  success  in  the 
fabrication  of  munitions  or  in  scale  with  our 
own  ideals,  we  must  at  a  single  step  span  the 
entire  field  of  the  British  background  of  ex- 
perience, both  pre-war  and  war,  and  set  up  im- 
mediately as  a  part  of  the  federal  organization 
for  carrying  on  the  war  a  central  body  with  suf- 
ficient power  to  adequately  meet  the  maximum 
demands  of  industry,  regardless  of  what  those 
demands  may  be.  fVe  must  be  made  to  realize 
the  proper  sense  of  scale,  and  the  bearing  of 
England's  achievement  on  her  future  social  and 
industrial  structures. 

RECONSTRUCTION 

We  assume  that  in  England,  where  apparently 
every  effort  is  directed  toward  the  accomplish- 


31 


WHAT  IS   A   HOUSE? 


ment  of  the  vivid  national  purpose — War,  that 
there  must  be  a  breathless  waiting  for  the  out- 
come of  the  struggle  and  a  deep  anxiety  regard- 
ing the  days  when  her  vast  armies  shall  have 
returned  from  the  field  of  action.  Paradoxical 
as  it  may  seem,  such  is  not  the  case;  there  is  no 
waiting.  Everywhere  there  is  a  searching  of  the 
heart,  a  probing  after  fundamental  values,  and 
an  active  endeavor  to  formulate  the  outlines  of 
a  policy  of  reconstruction  which  will,  in  some 
small  measure,  compensate  for  the  losses  sus- 
tained, and  which  will  render  the  national  life 
after  the  struggle  not  unworthy  of  the  deeds  of 
heroism  at  the  front. 

Three  years  of  struggle  with  a  single  object 
as  the  goal  of  national  endeavor  have  wrought 
tremendous  changes,  and  the  countless  strands 
of  individual  aims  have  been  gathered  up  and 
woven  into  one  vast  fabric  of  national  purpose. 

But  we  all  know  that  this  war  must  end,  and 
the  problem,  therefore,  is  what  shall  then  be 
the  national  purpose  which  will  serve  to  hold 
the  fabric  together? 

How  can  that  purpose  be  expressed  in  terms 
intimately  related  to  the  many  complex  forces 
contributing  to  the  national  life?  By  what 
technique  can  these  forces  be  coordinated  and 
directed  without  the  sacrifice  of  individual  in- 
itiative? Such  are  a  few  of  the  questions  upper- 
most in  the  mind  of  thoughtful  England  today. 
Similar  in  import  is  the  industrial  "unrest." 
Through  the  travail  of  war,  there  has  been  born 
a  hope  conceived  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Indus- 
trial Revolution  of  a  century  ago. 

If  viewed  in  the  light  of  pre-war  convention 
and  dogma,  the  proposals  for  reconstruction  seem 
revolutionary;  but  they  are  not  so  viewed. 
Thought  which  was  revolutionary  in  its  nature 
has  now  become  merely  radical.  And  there  are 
no  limits  or  boundaries.  Speculation,  it  is  true, 
centers  around  the  problems  related  to  labor, 
industry,  and  education,  but  the  proposals  search 
out  and  affect  every  phase  of  national  life.  The 
value  of  directed  integrated  effort  has,  in  a  meas- 
ure, been  realized,  and  the  realization  has  opened 
up  vistas  looking  toward  a  nearer  approach  to  a 
general  scheme  of  national  syndication  of  group 
purposes. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  background  of  tendency 
and  thought  against  which  I  viewed  the  indus- 
trial technique  through  which  England  supplies 
her  vast  armies  at  the  front.    My  purpose  was 


to  survey  rapidly  the  industrial  housing  situa- 
tion and  to  study  the  methods  whereby  Eng- 
land had  essayed  to  solve  this  gigantic  problem 
which  had  so  suddenly  confronted  her.  I  visited 
nearly  a  score  of  the  larger  munitions  plants 
scattered  throughout  England,  Scotland,  and 
Wales,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  problem  was 
more  than  vividly  revealed.  I  went  primarily  to 
study  the  physical  aspects,  but  it  was  impossible 
to  confine  myself  to  such  a  limited  phase  of  the 
operation;  for  the  far-reaching  effects  and  the 
significance  of  the  broad  policies  adopted  as 
war  measures  had  created  an  entirely  new  set 
of  social  and  economic  values  as  regards  labor 
and  housing,  and  had  thrust  the  questions  boldly 
into  the  realm  of  future  national  politics. 

The  Obligations  of  the  State 

Prior  to  the  war,  by  several  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment, the  State  had  assumed  the  obligation  of 
adequately  housing  her  working  population. 
This  obligation  was  not  to  be  fulfilled  by  the 
exercise  of  police  power,  as  is  our  policy  in  the 
States  (where  the  State  has  actually  assumed  no 
obligation),  but  by  acts  of  initiative  and  the 
rendering  of  direct  financial  assistance.  Obvi- 
ously, the  effectiveness  of  these  Acts  was 
limited  by  the  social  and  economic  values  used 
to  determine  the  standard  as  regards  adequacy. 
Notwithstanding  the  relatively  low  values  used, 
these  Acts  have  proved  effective.  The  State  had 
already,  prior  to  the  war,  initiated  many  enter- 
prises, and  the  financial  aid — the  long-term 
loans  at  low  rates  of  interest  given  subject  to 
State  control — had  very  greatly  stimulated 
house-building  on  broad  town  planning  lines. 

While  direct  action  by  the  State  and  the 
financial  aid,  rendered  to  properly  constituted 
bodies  was  a  long  step  in  advance,  these  did 
not  solve  the  problem.  The  old  relation  between 
wages  and  the  cost  of  living  had  not  been  altered; 
in  fact,  the  purchasing  power  of  a  day's  work 
was  falling.  The  mere  lowering  of  the  rate  of 
interest  and  the  removal  of  many  of  the  ham- 
pering conditions  surrounding  house-building 
was  not  enough.  Up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
the  shortage  was  accumulating.  Conditions  in 
some  quarters — in  the  great  industrial  centers 
— had  become  acute. 

Such  was  the  situation  in  the  summer  of  19 14, 
when  the  tremendous  and  instant  expansion  of 
industries   created   a   housing   problem   which 


32 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


had  to  be  met  without  a  moment's  delay.  For 
perfectly  obvious  economic  reasons,  private 
enterprise  failed  to  respond;  there  was  but  one 
possible  resource — State  action. 

And  the  State  acted,  and  acted  immediately, 
not  with  the  breadth  of  vision  that  it  should,  but 
the  power  was  created,  and  housing  enterprises, 
both  of  a  temporary  and  a  permanent  nature, 
were  started.  Towns,  and  even  cities,  were  pro- 
jected and  laid  out  over  night.  The  unusual 
financial  aspects  of  the  problem  and  the  short- 
age of  labor  and  materials  were  accepted.  The 
central  idea  was  to  provide  adequate  and  suf- 
ficient housing — permanent  in  so  far  as  possible 
— arranged  on  broad  town  planning  lines,  antic- 
ipating future  growth,  and  to  provide  this  in 
the  shortest  possible  space  of  time. 

Then  it  was  that  a  new  and  a  permanent  value 
as  regards  the  importance  of  housing  was  estab- 
lished. The  State  recognized,  as  never  before, 
the  vital  importance  of  industry;  and  both 
Industry  and  the  State  recognized — not  in 
theory,  but  by  sweeping  acts  of  acknowledg- 
ment— that  upon  the  adequate  housing  of  the 
worker  as  regards  the  home,  its  environment, 
and  the  amenities,  may  depend  the  very  exist- 
ence of  the  Nation. 

The  New  Value  of  Wages 

The  deeper  significance  of  this  nation-wide 
development  is  not  limited  by  the  fact  that  the 
State  is  housing  its  munition  workers  at  a  rental 
below  what  would  in  normal  times  be  deemed 
a  minimum  return  upon  an  investment  of  this 
sort.  It  is  rather  that  a  new  method  has  been 
established  for  measuring  the  value  of  things 
created  by  Capital  and  Labor.  Heretofore,  in 
determining  the  value  of  a  product  we  have  in- 
cluded the  cost  of  adequate  plant  and  equip- 
ment, the  actual  cost  of  labor,  overhead  and 
profit.  But  labor  value  is  likewise  complex  and 
includes,  in  lieu  of  plant  and  equipment,  a  house 
and  its  surroundings — for  these  are  necessary. 
The  value  of  labor  has  been  fixed  by  its  market 
value  in  competition,  or  by  a  union  scale.  The 
housing  of  the  human  machine  has  been  left  to 
"the  devil  take  the  hindmost"  policy. 

In  the  new  war  method  of  valuation,  the  cost 
of  plant  includes  not  merely  the  buildings 
wherein  machines  are  operated  and  workers 
perform  their  tasks,  but  it  also  includes 
the   buildings    wherein   the  workers    live   and 


meet  in  social  intercourse  and  for  purposes  of 
recreation. 

It  will  be  argued  that  this  is  a  national  crisis, 
that  upon  the  fabrication  of  munitions  depends 
the  well-being,  the  very  existence  of  the  State; 
that  the  return  to  the  ways  of  peace  will  im- 
mediately remove  the  urgency  of  the  need,  and 
that  we  shall  then  return  to  the  pre-war  basis 
of  valuation.  I  have  viewed  this  question  from 
many  angles,  and  I  doubt  if  such  will  be  the 
case.  Labor  has  measured  its  strength  in  this 
crisis  and  will  not  be  easily  led  back  to  the  con- 
ditions prior  to  the  war. 

There  may  be  a  halting  progress,  but  the 
steps  taken  will  not  be  retraced.  England  will 
go  forward,  and  the  new  standards  and  values 
created  through  the  war  will  carry  over  into 
the  days  of  peace. 

The  State  has  measured  the  relative  import- 
ance of  the  factors  looking  toward  its  well- 
being.  It  has  created  broad  powers  and  authori- 
ties and  direct  methods  of  conserving  what  it 
deems  to  be  the  most  important.  The  technique 
is  bold  and  crude:  it  is  the  technique  of  war,  but 
this  will  be  adjusted  to  the  days  to  come,  for  its 
aim  is  peace,  and  a  better  peace  than  those  who 
labor  have  ever  known. 

It  is  this  aspect  of  the  industrial  housing 
problem  which  now  becomes  the  central  theme 
of  the  discussion. 

Our  Perilous  Necessity 

Unless  we  act  now,  the  problem  which  Eng- 
land has  faced  and  met  today  we  shall  later 
face  under  sterner  conditions.  It  may  be  post- 
poned, shortsightedly;  it  cannot  be  turned  aside. 
In  broad  outlines,  the  two  problems — England's 
of  today  and  ours  of  the  future — are  identical. 
The  differences  relate  to  legislative  enactments 
and  technical  methods;  the  social  and  economic 
factors  are  the  same. 

We  may  fancy  for  the  time  being  that  the 
war  is  nearly  over,  but  there  is  little  ground  for 
such  a  hope.  We  must  prepare  as  England  pre- 
pared; but  we  can  do  morey  for  we  can,  through 
the  knowledge  gleaned  by  her  experience^  phrase 
our  program  of  immediate  preparation  in  terms 
of  great  reconstructive  value. 

In  England,  during  the  twelve  years  imme- 
diately preceding  the  war,  there  was  an  aver- 
age yearly  increase  of  over  seventy  thousand 
dwellings  having  an  annual  rental  under  £20. 


32 


WHAT   IS  A  HOUSE? 


This  yearly  increase  ceased  immediately  after 
war  was  declared.  When  we  consider  that  this 
normal  increase  represents  an  accumulating 
shortage  for  the  entire  war  period,  whatever  it 
may  be — and  that,  in  addition,  an  abnormally 
large  number  of  dwellings  have  become  unfit 
for  habitation  during  the  same  period,  and  that 
there  was,  prior  to  the  war  a  very  acute  con- 
dition of  congestion  in  many  quarters — it  is 
perfectly  obvious  that  a  most  difficult  problem 
confronts  the  days  of  reconstruction. 

A  very  similar  condition  of  housing  shortage 
has  existed  for  some  time  in  the  States.  We 
have  practically  ignored  the  problem;  we  have 
treated  it  locally,  but  not  effectively.  The  con- 
ditions and  the  causes  remain,  and  the  problem 
will  become  more  acute  just  so  long  as  we  take 
the  narrow  point  of  view  as  regards  the  applica- 
tion of  the  remedy.  To  a  very  large  majority 
of  us  it  has  been  an  indication  of  prosperity,  a 
field  for  speculative  profits,  and  we  have  utterly 
ignored  the  smoldering  fires  of  industrial  unrest 
which  such  a  condition  provokes. 

An  article  appeared  not  so  long  ago  in  one  ot 
our  popular  American  magazines.  The  title  was 
"Standing  Room  Only,"  and  it  vividly  portrayed 
the  conditions  existing  in  a  certain  prosperous  (.'') 
industrial  city.  Our  callousness  to  the  vital 
nature  of  this  question  was  illustrated  by  the 
fact  that  not  a  few  of  the  influential  inhabitants 
of  that  city  did  not  know  whether  to  take  it  as 
a  taunt  or  as  a  compliment  that  their  town 
should  be  so  frightfully  congested. 

It  is  but  flying  in  the  face  of  serious  trouble  to 
thoughtlessly  ignore  this  vital  social  and  eco- 
nomic question,  or  to  attempt  to  solve  it  by 
makeshift  methods.  Neither  of  these  conditions 
obtains  in  England  today;  she  is  earnestly  en- 
deavoring to  solve  the  problem. 

The  Part  Played  by  the  House  in  the 
New  British  Labor  Program 

Under  the  caption  "A  New  Labour  Pro- 
gramme" in  the  London  Times  (November  3) 
there  is  set  forth  by  the  Executive  Committee 
of  the  British  Workers'  League  the  draft  recom- 
mendations of  a  Program  of  National  and 
Industrial  Reconstruction  as  a  recommendation 
to  the  General  Council  of  the  League  which 
was  to  be  convened  immediately  to  consider  its 
adoption.  It  reads  like  a  program  based  on 
one  of  H.  G.  Wells'  forecasts — a  chapter  from 


his  Anticipations,  as  it  were — and  it  is  worthy 
of  the  most  serious  study.  It  contains  the  fol- 
lowing suggestions  relative  to  the  program  of 
providing  adequate  homes  as  a  part  of  the  plan 
of  reconstruction. 
Housing: 

(a)  The  Government  to  take  immediate  steps  to  ascer- 
tain the  extent  of  the  deficiency  in  housing  accommodation, 
both  rural  and  urban,  and  where  such  deficiency  is  not 
being  met,  to  render  adequate  financial  assistance,  either 
in  the  form  of  loans  on  easy  terms  or  of  grants  covering  a 
proportion  of  the  amount  required,  in  order  to  provide 
the  necessary  accommodation. 

(^)  The  Central  Authority  to  act  under  compulsory 
powers  where  the  Local  Authority  fails  to  take  the  re- 
quisite measures. 

In  the  Report  of  Proceedings  of  the  Trades 
Unions  Parliamentary  Congress,  just  issued, 
there  occurs  this  resolution,  followed  by  a  very 
sane  discussion  of  the  question: 

That  this  Congress,  in  view  of  the  great  shortage  of 
working-class  houses,  and  the  consequent  menace  to  the 
health  of  the  people,  calls  upon  the  Government  to  deal 
at  once  with  this  important  question: 

(i)  By  making  it  compulsory  for  local  authorities  to 
prepare  and  carry  out  adequate  housing  schemes  to  meet 
the  need  of  their  area. 

(2)  Embracing  such  Government  grants,  free  of  interest, 
as  will  enable  local  authorities  to  erect  suitable  houses  for 
the  people. 

Further,  in  view  of  the  extreme  urgency  of  the  question, 
this  Congress  instructs  the  Parliamentary  Committee  to 
press  for  action  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  without 
waiting  for  the  cessation  of  hostilities. 

In  a  pamphlet  but  recently  issued  by  the 
Joint  Committee  on  Labour  Problems  after  the 
War,  which  Committee  was  composed  of  three 
representatives  each  from  the  Parliamentary 
Committee  of  the  Trades  Union  Congress,  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Labour  Party,  the 
Management  Committee  of  the  General  Federa- 
tion of  Trade  Unions  and  the  War  Emergency 
Workers'  National  Committee,  I  quote  from  the 
full  statement  merely  the  specific  recommenda- 
tions: 

(a)  The  Government  must  promptly  inform  all  the 
local  authorities  that  the  requisite  1,000,000  new  dwellings 
have  got  to  be  built,  and  that  each  place  will  have  its 
assigned  quota; 

{i>)  The  local  authority  should  everywhere  be  required 
to  decide,  within  one  month,  whether  or  not  it  will  under- 
take to  build  the  quota  thus  fixed,  upon  the  terms  oflFered 
by  the  Government; 

(c)  The  land  must  be  at  once  secured  (or  a  legal  option 
obtained)  under  the  summary  process  of  the  Defence  of 
the  Realm  Act  or  some  equally  speedy  procedure; 


34 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


{d)  The  plans  must  equally  be  prepared  and  approved 
in  advance;  and  the  local  authorities  should  be  required 
to  have  them  ready  within  three  months  of  the  decision 
to  provide  so  many  dwellings; 

(<?)  The  Government  must  for  four  years  secure  "pri- 
ority" for  these  1,000,000  working-class  dwellings  as 
regards  all  building  materials; 

(J)  The  1,000,000  new  dwellings  should  be  everywhere 
begun  the  day  after  peace  is  declared;  but  should  be  pro- 
ceeded with,  month  by  month,  strictly  in  correspondence 
with  the  supply  of  building  trades  workmen,  so  as  to  leave 
practically  none  of  them  at  any  time  unemployed; 

ig)  Where  the  local  authority  obstinately  refuses  to 
build  the  quota  assigned  to  it,  the  Local  Government 
Board  should  itself  undertake  the  building,  placing  the 
work  under  the  supervision  of  a  local  committee  appointed 
by  itself,  on  which  the  Trades  Council,  the  Local  Trade 
Union  branches,  and  the  local  women's  industrial  organiza- 
tions should  be  represented. 

In  April  of  191 6  a  National  Congress  was  con- 
vened to  consider  Home  Problems  after  the  war. 
This  Congress  was  composed  of  representatives 
of  the  Local  Authorities  (city  councils,  town 
councils,  urban  and  district  councils),  through- 
out Great  Britain,  representatives  of  trades 
unions,  architectural  societies,  cooperative  so- 
cieties, teachers'  associations,  property  owners* 
associations,  and  individuals  generally  interested 
in  national  issues.  The  complete  report  is  a 
valuable  contribution  toward  the  solution  of 
the  after-the-war  problem.  The  following  para- 
graphs are  from  the  Report  of  Deputations  to 
His  Majesty's  Government  received  by  the 
President  of  the  Local  Government  Board, 
September  20,  191 6.  This  report  represents  a 
most  thoughtful  study: 

That  this  Congress  urgently  directs  the  attention  of  the 
Government  to  the  critical  need  for  the  provision  of  addi- 
tional housing  for  the  working  classes,  and  in  respect  of 
the  national  interest  ahd  responsibility  in  the  matter  urges 
upon  the  Government  to  set  aside  no  less  than  £20,000,000 
to  make  such  advances  to  Local  Authorities  and  other 
Agencies  as  will  enable  them  to  provide  houses  at  reason- 
able rentals  having  regard  to  all  necessary  and  equitable 
circumstances  and  conditions. 

That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Congress  legislation  is 
necessary  to  simplify  and  cheapen  the  transfer  of  land  so 
as  to  encourage  the  building  of  houses  for  the  working 
classes. 

The  Future  General  Housing  Policy 

(i)  This  Congress  urges  all  parties  in  the  State  to  take 
combined  action  to  secure  that  every  family  shall  be  housed 
under  proper  conditions,  and  in  order  to  secure  this  end, 
which  is  of  vital  and  national  importance,  urges  that 
legislation  should  be  introduced: 

{a)  To  set  up  machinery  in  all  industries  to  require 


employers  to  pay  wages  sufficient  to  ensure  decent  housing 
accommodation  for  the  workers  in  these  industries;  and 

{b)  To  secure  that,  where  such  raising  of  wages  can 
only  be  achieved  by  stages,  the  Local  Authority  shall 
recognize  and  fulfil  the  duty  of  providing  decent  housing 
accommodation  for  those  unable  meanwhile  to  pay  an 
economic  rent,  and  that  the  whole  country  shall  bear  the 
difference  in  the  cost  between  the  rent  of  the  decent  dwell- 
ing and  the  rent  which  the  tenants  can  afford  to  pay.s^ 

(a)  That  in  view  of  the  results  produced  by  the  systems 
of  providing  houses  for  the  working  classes  hitherto  pre-* 
vailing,  this  Congress  requests  the  Government  to  take 
such  steps  on  either  local  or  national  lines  as  will  facilitate 
and  stimulate  the  activities  of  Local  Authorities  and  other 
agencies  in  the  erection  of  houses  that  are  necessary. 

(3)  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Congress,  housing 
schemes  promoted  by  public  authorities,  save  in  the  case 
of  schemes  intended  for  housing  those  unable  meanwhile 
to  pay  an  economic  rent,  should  be  economically  self- 
supporting. 

Shall  We  Help  or  Hinder  the  Birth  of 
the  New  Hope  and  Spirit.^ 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  proposals 
and  suggestions  which  express  quite  accurately 
the  general  trend  of  British  opinion  as  it  views 
the  tremendous  and  inevitable  problem  of  re- 
construction. While  these  suggestions  are  in  the 
main  general  in  their  statements  or  demands, 
there  is  also  to  be  found  a  group  of  definite,  well- 
organized  proposals  aimed  at  affecting  the 
desired  changes.  These  are  in  the  form  of  rec- 
ommended amendments  to  the  existing  Housing 
and  Town  Planning  Acts.  They  cover  the  entire 
field  of  and  affect  the  work  of  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board,  Local  Authorities,  copartnership 
companies,  industrial  corporations,  and  private 
or  speculative  enterprises.  Such  details  must  of 
a  necessity  be  omitted;  but  in  the  broad  legis- 
lative policy  which  we  must  formulate  and 
enact  these  expressions  of  British  evolution  in 
Housing  and  Town  Planning  policy  must  be 
reckoned  with.  They  will  affect  the  social  and 
economic  future  of  the  whole  world. 

The  technical  suggestions  are  all  directed  to- 
ward increasing  the  scale  of  the  present  legisla- 
tive enactments.  Greater  financial  inducements 
in  the  way  of  larger  advances  and  time  of  loan, 
will  undoubtedly  be  offered  to  Local  Authorities 
and  to  Public  Utility  Societies,  which  embark 
upon  adequate  housing  and  town  planning 
schemes.  The  imperial  obligation  to  house  the 
workers  in  an  adequate  environment  will  be  ful- 
filled through  the  extension  of  powers  and  au- 
thorities, and  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  learn 


3S 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


at  some  not  distant  date  that  the  adequate 
planning  of  urban  and  rural  areas  in  England 
had  been  made  obligatory  by  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment. The  same  public  sentiment,  the  same 
stream  of  tendencies  which  produced  these  acts, 
is  gaining  in  strength.  It  would  be  highly  irra- 
tional for  one  to  assume  that  the  process  of 
evolution  will  suddenly  cease,  and  that  a  nation 
with  an  awakening  sense  of  social  justice  to  all 
will  suddenly  and  without  cause  stagnate  and 
cease  to  advance. 

The  central  theme  of  the  picture  of  England 
today  is  not  war,  nor  soldiers,  sturdy  and  full  of 
life,  nor  soldiers  wounded  in  battle,  nor  guns,  nor 
munitions  of  war,  nor  the  crosses  over  the  graves 
of  those  who  have  died,  nor  grief  and  sorrow,  nor 


a  world  filled  with  unrest  and  discontent — no; 
for  the  central  theme  is  a  new  hope.  And  this 
new  hope  is  not  that  hope  of  the  aged  or  the 
last  hope  at  which  men  grasp — it  is  instead  the 
hope  of  youth,  the  hope  of  robust  life,  the  hope 
that  goes  with  a  knowledge  of  strength  and 
power,  that  inspires  and  in  turn  calls  for  action. 
Nor  is  it  confined  to  the  victories  of  war;  it 
permeates  the  lives  of  all.  Those  who  are  timid 
and  afraid  call  it  Labor  Unrest,  the  Ferment  of 
Revolutions,  and  they  seek  to  make  more  pain- 
ful the  birth  of  this  new  spirit.  They  shall  fail, 
and  in  proportion  as  they  oppose  shall  chaos 
prevail,  for  this  new  spirit  is  the  spirit  of  amelio- 
ration and  justice,  of  law  and  order  and  the 
Rational  Life. 


THE  AMERICAN   BACKGROUND 


WHILE  our  history  discloses  no  exact 
parallel  to  the  economic  conditions 
surrounding  production  and  the  physi- 
cal conditions  surrounding  the  home  life  of  the 
town  laborer  in  England  during  the  days  of  the 
Industrial  Revolution,  we  have  witnessed,  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
conditions  and  tendencies  in  industry  which 
bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  those  observed 
in  England  a  century  ago.  But  there  is  dis- 
closed no  corresponding  parallel  to  the  move- 
ment expressed  by  the  terms  "collective  owner- 
ship and  administration,"  "collective  regula- 
tion," "collective  taxation,"  and  "collective 
provision"  which  mark  the  development  of 
the  British  cooperative  societies  among  the 
workers  and  in  British  social  politics  (resulting 
in  certain  specific  legislative  enactments  and  a 
corresponding  rapid  expansion  of  the  function 
of  government  in  the  fields  of  production  and 
consumption) ;  these  have  been  rapidly  develop- 
ing in  England  during  the  last  three-quarters 
of  a  century. 

We  have  pursued  a  middle  course.  Conditions 
of  labor  within  and  without  the  factory  have 
not  been  quite  as  bad,  and,  as  a  result,  our  pro- 
gram and  measures  looking  toward  ameliora- 
tion have  been  but  little  more  than  a  series  of 
feeble  compromises. 

We  have  conceived  government  to  be  an 
institution,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  dis- 
pense a  limited  kind  of  justice  and  to  control 
our  vicious  acts  through  the  exercise  of  police 


36 


power.  Property  has  been,  upon  the  whole,  the 
sacred  thing,  and  the  safeguarding  of  the  rights 
of  individuals  to  have  and  to  hold  has  been  the 
central  purpose  expressed  in  our  legislative 
enactments.  That  this  should  be  the  case  is 
natural.  We  have  been  pioneering,  and  life  has 
appeared  to  consist  in  accomplishment  phrased 
in  terms  of  limited  individual  purpose.  Our  ex- 
pansion has  been  marked  by  frightful  waste;  con- 
servation has  appeared  as  a  function  of  govern- 
ment only  after  individuals  felt  the  pinch  of  want. 
In  the  office  of  the  National  Housing  and 
Town  Planning  Association  in  London  is  a 
library  which  contains  the  greater  part  of  the 
housing  and  town  planning  literature  published 
in  America.  One  day  I  took  occasion  to  study 
this  library  in  the  hope  of  thus  arriving  at  a 
comparative  estimate  of  its  scope  and  a  clearer 
idea  of  our  aim  and  purpose.  I  was  at  a  sufficient 
distance  to  observe  our  general  tendencies  and 
possibly  to  note  our  rate  of  progress. 

As  a  result  of  this  re-survey,  I  was  furnished 
with  a  most  interesting  experience;  as  I  read  the 
tables  of  contents,  the  forewords  and  occasional 
paragraphs  and  summaries,  there  developed  a 
better  understanding.  It  was  made  evident  to 
me  that  our  past  should  be  considered  merely 
as  a  period  of  incubation.  Our  appeal  for  better 
houses  and  a  broad  policy  of  town  planning  had 
been  phrased  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  great- 
est number;  we  had  chosen  the  financial  aspect 
(the  economic  is  altogether  too  broadly  expres- 
sive). The  more  or  less  obvious  value  of  better 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


sanitary  conditions  had  furnished  the  basis  of 
our  appeal. 

Our  purpose,  expressed  by  our  emphasis  upon 
the  financial  benefits  to  be  derived  from  better 
conditions  of  sanitation,  has  limited  our  pro- 
grams for  planning  towns  and  houses  in  a  most 
extraordinary  way  and  has  brought  about  cer- 
tain tentative  solutions  of  these  problems  which 
will  do  quite  as  much  to  thwart  progress  as  any- 
thing we  could  possibly  devise. 

In  our  effort  to  provide  better  conditions,  we  > 
have  limited  our  federal,  state,  and  municipal  / 
legislative  enactments  to  restrictive  measures. 
We  have  assurhed  that  by  enacting  legislation 
against  a  bad  condition  we  would  thereby  create 
the  opposite.    Restrictive  legislation   and   the 
exercise   of  police  power  express  the  methods 
through  which  we  have  assumed  that  a  better 
physical    and    social    environment    could    be 
evolved.  This  does  not  follow.   What^wejtieed  \ 
are    positive    legislative    rnar.tmpnfs  booking  1 
towardme  creation  of  the  conditions  which  we 
desire.    I  would  not  be  interpreted  as  utterly 
condemning  our  efforts  of  the  past.     I  realize 
that  progress  is  a  matter  of  evolution,  but  I 
point  out  that  our  concept  of  government  as 
expressed  in  the  existing  legislative  enactments* 
is  too  limited  to  be  of  any  real  value. 

In  "City  Planning  Progress  1917,"  published 
by  the  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Architects,  one  finds  a  very  complete  summary 
of  our  progress  in  city  planning.  A  hasty  survey 
of  this  document  leaves  one  most  encouraged, 
but  an  analytical  study  produces  the  opposite 
pointofview.  One  observes  every  where  aworthy 
purpose  as  expressed  by  the  formulated  plans; 
but  when  one  considers  the  technique  of  carry- 
ing these  subjects  into  execution,  one  must 
admit  that  the  machinery  now  set  up  is  totally 
inadequate.  A  commission  without  authority 
is  an  excellent  vehicle  for  education  and  for  the 
distribution  of  propaganda.  In  exceptional 
cases,  such  a  commission  may  be  highly 
qualified  as  regards  technical  experience;  but, 
there  being  no  element  in  the  municipal,  state 
or  federal  government  whose  function  it  is  to 
carry  on  work  of  this  sort,  progress  is  hesitating. 
Ofttimes  the  work  of  such  a  commission  is 
merely  pigeonholed. 

•For  a  concise  statement  of  the  "Constitutional  Limits  of  City 
Planning  Powers,"  see  pamphlet  by  this  title,  by  Edw.  M.  Bassett, 
City  of  New  York  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  Committee 
on  the  City  Plan  1917. 


As  has  been  pointed  out,  within  our  cities 
effort  toward  the  provision  of  better  homes  has 
been  limited  in  the  main  to  restrictive  laws. 
Judging  by  these,  it  may  be  said  that  aside  from 
the  placing  of  a  limit  upon  the  degree  of  con- 
gestion and  insanitary  conditions  which  will  be 
tolerated  within  a  municipality,  the  govern- 
ment is  not  interested  in  the  question  of  decent 
homes  for  workmen. 

In  America  there  are,  in  general,  but  three 
methods  whereby  homes  for  workers  are  pro- 
vided: Speculative  building,  philanthropic  enter- 
prise and  initiation  by  industrial  corporations. 

Speculative  building  has  failed  in  America, 
as  it  failed  in  Europe,  because  of  the  most 
elemental  of  economic  reasons:  Speculative 
capital  flows  into  such  enterprises  as  offer  the 
prospect  of  the  largest  reasonably  safe  return. 
So  long  as  a  low  standard  as  regards  adequacy 
and  a  high  standard  as  regards  congestion  is  tol- 
erated, and  so  long  as  the  cost  of  building  is  low, 
capital  sufficient  to  maintain  these  lower  stand- 
ards finds  its  way  into  speculative  home-build- 
ing enterprises.  As  a  result  of  better  education, 
constantly  increasing  demands  for  a  better 
environment,  there  naturally  follows  a  gradual 
diminution  of  return,  which  in  turn  reduces  the 
flow  of  capital  used  for  this  purpose.  Since  the 
demand  for  more  adequate  accommodations  and 
for  more  homes  inevitably  occurs  at  a'time  of 
prosperity  and  Industrial  expansion,  it  should 
be  obvious  that  it  is  absolutely  futile  to  rely 
even  in  a  small  degree  upon  speculative  build- 
ing. It  is  utterly  hopeless  to  assume  that 
through  this  method  the  standard  of  living 
conditions  may  be  raised^.  Uncontrolled  specu- 
lation in  this  field  is  so  closely  akin  to  exploita- 
tion that  to  propose  it  as  a  method  of  providing 
homes  at  a  minimum  of  rent  is  to  propose  that 
the  workingman  be  exploited.  Consider,  for  a 
moment,  the  pathetic  and  tragic  stupidity  which 
compels  our  communities  to  give  land-owners 
the  values  which  the  community  creates,  and 
which,  as  though  to  twist  the  knife  in  the 
wound  to  our  national  life,  then  taxes  the  man 
who  improves  his  land! 

Philanthropic  or  semi-philanthropic  enter- 
prise, depending  upon  the  generosity  of  indi- 
viduals and  their  willingness  to  accept  a  low 
rate  of  interest,  while  admirable  if  considered 
from  a  limited  point  of  view",  need  not  be  seri- 
ously considered  as  a  solution  of  the  problem. 


37 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


While  such  enterprises  may  do  excellent  experi- 
mental work  and  in  so  doing  set  a  good  example 
and  perform  a  valuable  service,  yet  the  total 
number  of  homes  thus  created  is  too  small  and 
will  ever  be  too  small  to  be  considered  as  a 
possible  solution  of  this  problem.  It  has  been 
argued  that  the  higher  standard  set  by  philan- 
thropic enterprise  tends  to  raise  the  standard 
of  speculative  building.  To  a  very  limited  extent 
this  may  be  true;  but  it  may  be  argued  that 
philanthropic  enterprise  directs  the  flow  of 
speculative  capital  to  other  more  remunerative 
fields  and  in  so  doing  actually  diminishes  the 
supply  of  homes.  In  the  proportion  that  enter- 
prises of  this  sort  are  apparently  successful 
do  we  postpone  the  formulation  of  a  broad 
home-building  policy. 

If  one  were  to  select  such  a  home-building 
policy  as  typical  of  present  American  tendency, 
he  would  probably  choose  that  employed  by  the 
larger  industrial  corporations.  This  method 
has  been  fostered  by  social  reformers  and  it 
appears  to  the  industrial  corporation  to  be  the 
only  solution  of  the  problem  when  they  are  con- 
fronted with  the  condition  of  either  limiting 
their  output  or  building  homes  for  their  em- 
ployes. As  in  the  case  of  philanthropic  enter- 
prise, this  method  has  a  material  value  and  it 
may  raise  the  standard,  though  the  latter  is  a 
debatable  question,  one  in  which  I  would  take 
the  negative.  In  any  event,  all  depends  upon 
the  attitude  of  the  corporation  embarking  upon 
such  an  enterprise. 

This  policy  should  be  accepted  merely  as  a 
temporary  expedient,  a  past  experiment,  and 
it  should  be  deprecated  as  being  in  nowise  a 
solution  of  the  problem.  At  best,  it  can  deal 
with  but  a  small  sector  of  the  problem  taken  as  a 
whole.  It  can  be  applied  only  where  the  initiat- 
ing corporation  is  sufficiently  strong  to  use  a 
portion  of  its  capital  and  its  earnings  for  the 
purpose  of  home-building  for  its  employes. 
It  makes  no  provision  for  a  much  larger  pro- 
portion of  workers  who  are  employed  by  cor- 
porations having  insufficient  capital  or  who  are 
unwilling  to  embark  upon  such  a  policy.  In  view 
of  the  economic  conditions  surrounding  employ- 
ment, such  a  policy  must  inevitably  give  the 
larger  corporations  an  advantage  over  the 
smaller.  This,  however,  may  be  far  from  perma- 
nent, and  depends  entirely  upon  other  factors  in 
the  relation  between  employer  and  workmen. 


The  question  of  individual  ownership  of  a 
home  by  a  worker  through  voluntary  purchase 
from  such  a  corporation  should  be  ruled  out  of 
consideration  in  connection  with  this  discussion. 
Under  such  conditions,  the  purchase  is  never 
voluntary  nor  is  the  laborer  free.  The  policy  is 
not  based  upon  sound  social  or  economic 
principles;  and  the  mere  fact  that  it  may  some- 
times be  employed  successfully  should  not  lead 
us  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  not  a  vicious 
practice  when  the  problem  is  considered  from  the 
national  point  of  view. 

It  is  eminently  desirable,  and  the  war  has 
thrown  a  greater  emphasis  than  ever  before 
upon  this  point,  that  all  those  who  constitute 
a  nation  shall  live  in  the  highest  possible  state 
of  physical  and  social  well-being.  To  assume 
that  speculative  builders,  philanthropic  societies 
or  industrial  corporations  are  responsible  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  physical  and  the  social 
well-being  of  those  who  work  is  merely  an  act 
of  throwing  the  responsibility  to  certain  groups 
who  appear  to  us  to  have  a  special  interest  in 
this  problem.  This  is  simply  a  way  of  saying: 
"Let  George  do  it." 

Industrial  corporations  have,  in  many  cases, 
accepted  this  responsibility  because  in  so  doing, 
and  by  no  other  existing  method,  was  it  possible 
to  continue  their  policy  of  expansion.  To  such 
it  was  not  a  question  of  building  homes  for  the 
workers  of  America;  it  was  a  question  of  output 
and  dividends.  By  our  general  acceptance  of 
this  method  we  have  acknowledged  the  fact  that 
homes  cannot  be  provided  without  some  stimu- 
lating force.  It  is  something  to  have  acknowl- 
edged this,  to  have  recognized  that  some  finan- 
cial and  initiating  aid  must  be  called  upon  if  our 
industrial  population  is  to  be  provided  with 
adequate  homes;  but  it  is  no  solution  of  the 
problem  to  point  our  finger  at  prosperous  indus- 
trial corporations  and  say:  "You're  it." 

We  may  emphasize,  and  we  should  emphasize 
in  individual,  industrial  and  national  terms  the 
social,  moral  and  economic  value  of  creating 
around  industry  the  most  desirable  conditions 
of  work,  rest  and  recreation,  but  we  should  also 
at  the  same  time  define  in  simple  terms  the  line 
or  boundary  which  defines  the  responsibilities 
of  the  corporation  and  the  responsibilities  of  the 
state.  One  might  present  long  arguments  in 
favor  of  this  clear  definition  of  responsibility, 
but  the  fundamental  reason  is  simple  in  the 


38 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


extreme:  Industrial  enterprise  is  organized,  so 
long  as  it  is  private  enterprise,  for  the  single 
purpose  of  production  and  profit.  This  holds 
for  industries  whether  they  be  large  or  small. 
The  home  and  the  entire  environment  in  which 
men  live  is  organized  with  a  single  purpose  in 
view,  namely,  that  of  providing  men  with  the 
maximum  results  of  labor.  That  industry  might 
be  organized  with  this  same  purpose  in  view  is  a 
perfectly  rational  suggestion  and  it  may  be  that 
at  some  future  day  the  organization  of  the  "Key 
industries"  will  assume  this  form.  Under  the 
present  unorganized  economic  condition  of 
society  it  is  futile  to  attempt  to  solve  this 
national  problem  by  asking  private  enterprises 
in  production  to  organize  the  collective  pro- 
vision of  homes  and  an  adequate  environment 
for  workers. 

I    The  Immediate  Problem  in  the  United 
States 

By  inference,  the  broad  outlines  of  the  policy 
which  we  should  adopt  and  put  into  immediate 
execution  has  already  been  suggested  in  the 
outline  of  the  British  policy  under  the  heading 
"British  War  Housing." 

The  following  is  a  composite  of  opinion, 
British  and  American:  As  already  noted,  we  can 
profit  materially  by  the  adoption  of  certain 
British  methods  and  we  can,  at  the  same  time, 
anticipate  many  of  the  problems  of  reconstruc- 
tion by  incorporating  in  our  method  of  imme- 
diate procedure  such  policies  as  will  embrace  the 
problem  of  the  future  as  well. 

Workmen's  home-building  operations  which 
are  now  under  construction  should  be  completed 
under  the  terms  and  conditions  by  which  they 
were  initiated,  provided  sufficient  progress  is 
made;  otherwise,  the  government  should  take 
them  over  and  proceed  with  the  operation 
through  the  organization  suggested  below.  Such 
operations  should  not  in  any  way  affect  our 
general  program  of  procedure. 

By  all  odds,  the  most  important  consideration 
in  home-building  during  war  or  during  peace  is 
the  land  problem.  We  should  secure  land  for 
industrial  housing  purposes  by  precisely  the 
same  methods  as  were  used  by  the  British 
government.  This  includes  the  safeguarding  of 
adjacent  areas  by  a  provision  which  will  enable 
the  government  at  a  later  date,  during  the  war, 
to   secure  property   for   the   expansion   of  an 


operation  at  pre-war  costs.  Incorporated  and 
as  an  essential  feature  of  our  scheme,  should  be 
a  provision  whereby  the  unearned  increment  in 
the  land  thus  taken  by  the  government  should 
be  preserved  so  that  the  income  from  it  will  be 
used  for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  community. 
The  conservation  of  the  unearned  increment  in 
land  for  the  benefit  of  the  community  is  in  it- 
self the  prime  factor  in  the  economic  solution  ol 
the  housing  problem. 

The  government  should  organize  a  separate 
department  or  a  non-profit  government  cor- 
poration for  providing  the  communities  adjacent 
to  munition  plants  wherever  it  develops  that 
additional  accommodations  are  required.  This 
organization  should  acquire  land  under  powers 
as  suggested  above,  plan  new  villages,  install 
roads,  sewer,  water,  and  light,  erect  houses  and 
other  buildings  of  amenity  required  by  these 
communities,  and  it  should  operate  the  proper- 
ties until  such  time  as  they  may  be  transferred 
to  others.  This  organization  should  cooperate 
with  the  various  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment which  operate  or  control  plants  providing 
munitions  of  war.  Control  of  this  organiza- 
tion by  the  latter  departments  should  be  limited 
to  a  determination  as  to  the  extent  and  the 
general  nature  of  the  building  operation.  It  is 
important  that  the  management  of  the  civil 
community  should  be  in  charge  of  a  community 
manager,  working  under  the  direction  of  the 
Central  Administration  which  would  in  turn 
frame  a  general  policy  of  management  in 
cooperation  with  the  department  operating  the 
plant. 

The  entire  property,  land  and  buildings, 
should  be  retained  and  operated  by  the  govern- 
ment during  the  war  and  for  a  certain  period 
thereafter.  Future  values  and  conditions  can 
only  be  determined  accurately  at  a  future  date. 
Therefore,  when  conditions  and  values  have 
been  adjusted,  local  non-profit  land  companies 
with  limited  dividends  should  be  formed  to 
operate  the  properties — that  is,  rent  houses, 
operate  the  utilities  or  rent  land  to  private 
builders  or  companies — and  use  the  surplus 
income  from  rentals  to  pay  interest  and  amor- 
tization of  the  government's  loan.  The  import- 
ant features  of  this  scheme,  which  is  similar  to 
the  British  copartnership  operations  in  many 
respects,  are  that  no  land  will  be  sold;  title  will 
remain  in  the  original  company  and  be  handled 


39 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


as  a  community  investment;  rentals  will  be 
readjusted  from  time  to  time  like  tax  valua- 
tions; and,  since  there  can  be  no  profit  as  a 
result  of  an  increase  of  land  values  due  to  the 
development  of  a  community,  the  increase  in 
rentals  would  provide  for  the  interest,  the 
amortization  of  the  government's  loan,  and  an 
income  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  entire  community 
which  would  approximate  twice  the  revenue 
which  this  community  would  obtain  under 
ordinary  conditions  and  through  the  ordinary 
methods  of  taxation.  This  method  conserves 
the  unearned  increment  of  land  values  created 
by  the  government's  house-building  operations. 
The  new  communities  gradually  purchase  the 
underlying  lands  and  the  original  houses  at  cost, 
thus  reimbursing  the  government. 

It  may  be  argued  that  these  new  communities 
may  collapse  after  the  war,  in  which  case  the 
government  loan  will,  of  course,  be  lost,  but  by 
extending  the  period  of  government  ownership 
and  control  beyond  the  war  and  by  the  organiza- 
tion of  local  land  companies  in  each  community 
to  anticipate  that  danger,  other  industries  may 
be  secured.  The  chances  that  such  an  invest- 
ment would  be  a  loss  are  indeed  remote.  It  is 
highly  probable  that  a  well-planned  community, 
organized  upon  this  basis,  with  provision  of 
adequate  homes  and  communal  buildings,  would 
draw  industries  to  it  without  effort.  This  sug- 
gestion is  not  one  of  theory;  it  would  merely 
be  putting  into  effect,  with  but  slight  modifica- 
tions, the  practices  in  general  use  in  the  garden 
cities  and  the  garden  suburbs  of  England.  The 
advantage  of  the  scheme  lies  in  the  fact  that  we 
do  not  have  to  determine  the  complex  details 
of  ownership  and  future  management  at  this 
date;  and  the  success  of  this  method  depends 
solely  upon  the  degree  of  thoroughness  with 
which  these  communities  are  carried  out.  If 
they  are  well  planned,  well  constructed  and 
well  organized,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
doubt  regarding  the  future  value  of  the  invest- 
ment. 

We  know  some  of  the  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  Europe  where  one  recognizes 
already  a  definite  direction  in  the  developing 
policies  of  reconstruction.  What  new  forces 
will  modify  the  direction  of  these  movements  no 
one  can  foretell,  but  of  one  thing  we  are  certain: 
Europe  will  emerge  from  conflict  as  a  world  of 


totally  new  values,  a  world  expressive  of  a 
broader  interpretation  of  democracy.  There 
will  be  a  new  relationship  established  between 
the  two  social  divisions  which  remain,  but  these 
will  not  be  separated  by  the  same  old  barriers  ot 
prejudice  and  hypocrisy,  and  men  and  institu- 
tions will  be  appraised  more  nearly  upon  the 
basis  of  their  worth.  There  will  be  less  power  in 
the  hands  of  a  few  and  there  will  be  fewer 
pawns.  There  will  be  a  greater  appreciation 
of  the  value  of  an  integrated  national  purpose. 
Many  of  the  factors  absolutely  essential  to 
large-scale  production,  but  now  utterly  ignored, 
will  each  receive  its  proper  share  of  attention*. 
Programs  of  national  reconstruction  and  evolu- 
tion will  revolve  about  broader  concepts  of  edu- 
cation, industry  and  commerce  and  the  integra- 
tion of  the  three. 

For  it  would  be  strange  indeed,  after  this 
experience  in  what  approximates  a  national 
syndication  of  production  and  collective  provi- 
sion which  now  holds  sway,  if  men  should  return 
and  thoughtlessly  take  their  former  places  in 
life  under  the  same  wasteful  and  uncertain  con- 
ditions which  prevailed  before  the  war.  Those 
now  in  the  workmen's  ranks  will  not  return 
to  those  conditions,  nor  will  those  who  direct 
the  activities  of  production  be  willing  to  return 
to  the  old  pre-war  period  of  individualistic  cut- 
throat competition  and  small-scale  production. 
There  will  be  a  reorganization  of  business  and 
of  government  as  a  result  of  the  lessons  learned 
in  war.  This  reorganization  will  acknowledge 
that  unity  of  purpose  must  exist  between  pro- 
duction and  consumption,  work  and  recreation, 
and  that  the  simplest  and  most  direct  method 
of  achieving  this  unity  is  through  the  extension 
of  the  functions  of  the  government.  There  will 
also  be  observed  a  distinct  effort  toward  the 
integration  of  individual  and  national  purpose, 
and  this  integration  will  obtain  in  the  pro- 
portion that  we  are  able  to  bring  the  entire  scope 
of  our  problems  within  our  grasp  of  vision.  Wc 
have  been  studying  our  problems  at  too  close 
a  range,  in  other  words  on  too  small  a  scale. 
In  so  doing  we  have  been  able  to  grasp  but  a 
tiny  sector  at  one  time.  We  must  bring  into  our 
field  of  vision  the  whole  problem. 

*NoTE. — It  would  be  of  value  if  every  American  business  man  could 
read  the  "Elements  of  Reconstruction"  (H.  G.  Wells),  a  series  of 
articles  contributed  in  July  and  August  to  the  London  Times,  with  an 
introduction  by  Milner,  Nesbit  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  London 


40 


yi 

J,  Hill     =- 

^^ii  ^                     ill                  '^r' 

mpgl  "^- '  ,.;,,j^* 

*iifli^i^^:.,.: .. 

Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
View  of  GILBORNE  WAY  Looking  West. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


41 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
A  Group  in  WHINYATES  ROAD  Looking  North. 


II.  M.  Office 
IP  estminster, 
London,  S.  JV. 


42 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
Fiew  in  DICKSON  ROAD  Looking  East. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works. 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


43 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
Crescent  near  Station  in  WELL  HALL  ROAD. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
fVestminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


44 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
WHINYATES  ROAD /row  ROSS  WAY  Looking  South. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


45 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
Fiew  in  WELL  HALL  ROAD  Looking  South. 


H.  M.  Office  oj  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


46 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
LOVELACE  GREEN  Looking  North. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


47 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
Pair  of  Cottages  in  LOVELACE  GREEN. 


H.M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London.  S.  W. 


48 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
Block  of  Houses  in  PHINEAS  PETT  ROAD. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
fVestminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


49 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
CONGREVE  ROAD  {Boughton  Road  Crossing)  Looking  South. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works. 
JVestminster, 
London,  S.  fV. 


Government  Housing  Scheme. 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
SANDBY  GREEN  Looking  North. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster, 
London,  S.  W 


51 


Government  Housing  Scheme 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
View  in  ROSS  WAY  Looking  East. 


!L  M.  Office  of  Works, 
JFestminster, 
London,  S.  W. 


52 


What  Is  a  House?    V 

By  RICHARD   S.  CHILDS 


The  House  Problem  Is  a  Land  Problem 

IN  ESSENCE,  the  reason  why  our  workmen 
and  their  families  do  not  live  in  attractive 
surroundings  is  because  attractive  sur- 
roundings would  raise  the  rent  which  in  turn 
would  raise  the  land  values.  And  a  raise  in 
rent  would  chase  away  the  workmen  and  their 
families. 

When  New  York  opens  a  new  subway  and 
offers  to  a  district  where  the  working  people 
live  a  quick,  convenient  ride  down  town,  the 
operation  of  this  law  promptly  chases  the  afore- 
said working  people  fifty  blocks  farther  away. 
I  know  a  church  at  76th  Street  whose  whole 
congregation  moved  to  the  120th  Street  region 
when  the  subway  opened,  to  avoid  the  rising 
rents. 

If  New  York  should  solve  its  market  and  food- 
supply  problem,  the  landlord,  showing  a  pros- 
pective tenant  through  an  apartment  would  say, 
"We  are  only  three  blocks  from  the  municipal 
market  here;  you  can  save  |io  a  month  on  food. 
So  this  apartment  at  $70  a  month  is  really  just 
as  cheap  as  it  used  to  be  at  ^60."  Or  the  vacant- 
lot  owner  would  say,  "Yes,  but  all  the  land  in 
this  section  has  gone  up  because  of  the  advan- 
tages of  that  new  municipal  market  over  there." 
In  a  factory  town,  if  the  factory  encounters 
adverse  fortune  and  employs  its  operatives  only 
intermittently,  rents  and  land  values  are  de- 
pressed. But  if  the  factory  is  full  of  orders  and 
offers  overtime  work  at  time-and-a-half,  the 
real  estate  men  brighten  up  and  get  their  asking 
prices. 

Increase  the  workers'  pay,  with  the  idea  that 
they  can  have  pretty  and  spacious  houses  in- 
stead of  dismal  and  narrow  ones,  and  you  have 
increased  their  buying  power — a  fact  of  which 
the  land-owners  take  note.  "They're  putting  in 
a  lot  of  machine  processes  over  at  the  plant," 
says  Mr.  Landowner  as  he  dickers  over  a  sale, 
"and  several  hundred  high-paid  mechanics  will 
be  brought  here  to  live.  They'll  be  wanting 
homes."  And  he  stiffens  his  price  appropriately. 
If  a  group  of  millionaires  had  sudden  reason  to 


*Introducing  still  another  author,  with  several  new  ones  to  follow. 
-The  Editor. 


colonize  there,  his  prices  would  grow  vastly 
more.  When  Henry  Ford  jumped  the  wages  in 
his  vast  plants,  Detroit  real  estate  jumped  too, 
to  match  the  new  buying  power. 

The  Fable  of  the  Bungalow 

There  is  a  fable  told  of  a  man  who,  choosing 
between  two  rural  bungalow  plots  at  I500  each, 
decided  to  take  both  and  tendered  the  owner 
1 1, 000.  But  the  price  of  the  two,  he  was  in- 
formed, was  $1 ,  100.  For  the  bungalow  he  was  to 
erect  on  one  lot  would  enhance  the  value  of  the 
other  lot  to  |6oo.  If  there  had  been  a  thousand 
such  lots  on  sale  at  $500  each,  the  price  of  them 
all  (with  a  certainty  that  a  thousand  bungalows 
were  to  be  erected)  would  not  be  1500,000  but 
something  nearer  to  $1,000,000.  The  early 
comers  would  pay  I500.  The  late  comers,  en- 
tering a  neighborhood  whose  development  had 
become  assured,  would  pay  |6oo,  |8oo,  1 1,000, 
and  more  for  lots  that  were  not  a  whit  different 
or  better.  And  the  tax  assessor  would  value 
them  all,  quite  properly,  at  the  standard  set  by 
the  latest  sales.  So,  little  by  little,  the  people, 
who  could  pay  ^500  a  lot,  but  no  more,  would 
find  themselves  unable  to  enter  the  colony. 

So  we  see  the  real-estate  developer  buying  the 
big  old  suburban  farm,  cutting  it  into  lots,  lay- 
ing sewers,  roads,  sidewalks  and  wires,  and  offer- 
ing frantic  inducements  to  the  first  comers,  for 
the  sake  of  profits  on  later  sales  after  his  for- 
lorn, bare  tract  becomes  a  nice  neighborhood.  He 
wins  or  loses,  as  his  fate  may  be,  but  his  bitterest 
burden  is  the  flimsy  parasite  development  that 
presently  rises  just  beyond  his  boundary  line  and 
undercuts  those  later  prices  by  which  he  hoped 
to  recoup  those  earlier  sacrifices  whereby  he  got 
the  people  coming.  This  unearned  increment 
which  he  earns  for  his  idle  neighbor  is  perhaps 
the  straw  that  breaks  his  back. 

Imagine,  if  you  can,  an  enthusiastic  city  plan- 
ner building  a  model  suburb  piecemeal!  He 
would  buy  a  few  lots,  erect  a  group  of  pretty 
houses,  sell  them  and  buy  land  again  just  be- 
yond, build  there,  sell,  and  buy  more  land  be- 
yond that!  Would  he?  Not  if  the  land-owners 
saw  him  coming!   They  would  build  up  a  dam 


S3 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE.? 


of  inflated  prices  on  their  lots  against  his  ap- 
proach, as  if  he  were  a  leper.  His  pretty  houses, 
so  far  from  encouraging  the  erection  of  more 
model  houses  in  the  neighborhood,  would  actu- 
ally tend  to  make  them  impossible  by  compel- 
ling other  builders  to  spend  for  unearned  incre- 
ments of  land  value  more  and  more  of  the 
money  they  intended  to  put  into  plumbing  and 
verandas. 

Assessable  and  Non-Assessable  Benefits 

When  the  city  builds  a  sewer,  it  can  assess  the 
cost  against  the  property  benefited;  the  City 
Club  of  New  York  demonstrated,  a  few  years 
ago,  that  even  so  large  an  enterprise  as  the  sub- 
ways could  have  been  easily  financed  in  that 
way  by  the  lands  whose  value  they  enhanced; 
but  a  good  and  wholesome  housing  development 
that  benefits  a  neighborhood  is  not  assessable, 
even  in  part,  upon  the  neighboring  land.  If  it 
could  be,  what  a  fine  stimulus  we  would  have 
for  the  kind  of  housing  that  improves  a  neigh- 
borhood by  its  very  presence!  How  it  would 
alter  the  financing  of  the  enterprise  if  the  land- 
owner across  the  street  or  around  the  corner 
could  be  charged  with  a  fair  share  of  the  cost 
of  thus  bringing  new  people  to  that  section,  in 
due  proportion  to  the  resultant  enhancement  of 
his  land  values. 

Concede,  then,  that  no  real  solution  of  the 
problem  of  getting  the  vast  majority  of  our 
population  into  attractive  homes  is  possible 
unless  we  first  solve  the  problem  of  the  unearned 
increment  which  now  banks  up  in  front  of  econo- 
mic progress,  including  housing  progress,  like 
snow  before  a  snow-plow ! 

Wages  and  Land  Values 

Of  course,  there  is  a  wage-problem,  too. 
Numerous  workers  are  paid  so  little  that  they 
cannot  possibly  meet  the  rent  that  should  fairly 
be  charged  for  a  barely  decent  home,  even  on 
low-priced  land,  and  employers  sometimes  go  in 
for  philanthropic  housing  at  charity  rates  to 
compensate  for  their  own  niggardliness.  But 
that  is  a  separate  problem — not  strictly  a  hous- 
ing problem  at  all. 

Wages  should  be  sufficient  to  obtain  for  the 
workers  at  least  enough  of  the  products  of  other 
labor  to  feed,  clothe,  and  house  their  families  in 
decency  and  health.  In  the  worker's  budget  the 
variable  element  which  has  no  relation   to  a 


definite  cost  of  production  is  the  tribute  he 
must  pay  to  land. 

When  the  Lackawanna  Steel  Co.  put  its  big 
plant  on  a  stretch  of  vacant  land  near  Buffalo 
and  offered  work  there  for  several  thousand  men, 
the  town  land  was  worth  $1,279,000.  The  city 
of  Lackawanna,  14,000  population,  grew  up 
there,  and  the  land  values  skyrocketed  from 
$91  per  person  to  $644  (the  plant  land  being 
eliminated  in  each  case).  That  inflated  value 
for  standing-room  was,  in  fact,  enough  to  keep 
about  half  the  Lackawanna  Steel  Company 
employees  from  making  their  homes  there  at  all, 
while  many  of  those  who  do  live  there,  huddle 
in  dingy  saloon  lodgings  and  leave  large  areas 
idle  in  the  hands  of  the  land  speculators.  The 
annual  value  of  a  man's  full  share  of  Lacka- 
wanna land  for  himself  and  family  of  five  at  6 
per  cent  is,  at  the  original  value,  5  X  I91  X  .06, 
or  $27.30;  at  the  enhanced  value,  |i93-  Money 
spent  on  land  rent  cannot  be  spent  on  house  rent. 
The  annual  cost  of  a  wholesome  house  is,  let  us 
say,  $125  a  year.  If  his  modest  lot  cost  only  an 
additional  $10  or  $20  annually,  the  worker  could 
more  nearly  afford  those  superior  accommoda- 
tions which  the  housing  and  city-planning 
experts  yearn  to  give  him. 

The  net  unearned  increment  which  Lacka- 
wanna has  given  as  a  princely  gift  to  miscellan- 
eous lucky  private  land-owners  and  speculators 
is  $6,788,000,  a  figure  large  enough  in  itself  to 
explain  why  Lackawanna  is  mostly  ragged  and 
squalid  instead  of  dainty  and  wholesome.* 

The  Lackawanna  Steel  Co.,  after  creating  the 
increment,  finally  bought  additional  land  at  the 
enhanced  values  and  erected  a  group  of  good 
houses  for  some  of  its  employees,  but  was  unable 
to  charge  to  its  low-paid  workers  rents  high 
enough  to  make  the  operation  anything  but  a 
philanthropic  proposition. 

The  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation  has  taken  the 
logical  next  step  by  purchasing  town  land  in 
various  places  at  the  same  time  as  the  land  for 
the  new  plants,  thus  in  some  degree  anticipat- 
ing and  capturing  the  increment  for  the  benefit 
of  its  workers.  In  some  degree,  I  say,  for  the 
coming  of  a  mysterious  purchaser  who  buys  land 
by  the  square  mile  cannot  be  altogether  con- 
cealed, and  the  Corporation  which,  of  course, 
has  no  power  of  condemnation,  gets  mercilessly 

*These  figures  are  taken  from  an  elaborate  unpublished  report  by 
H.  S.  Swan,  of  New  York,  prepared  for  the  Committee  on  New  Indus- 
trial Towns,  of  which  the  writer  is  Secretary. 


54 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


mulcted  by  the  land-owners  who  get  wind  of  the 
operation  in  time  to  raise  their  prices. 

Having  thus  acquired  the  town-site,  the  Steel 
Corporation  plans  the  streets  and  sells  off  the 
lots  without  attempting  to  reap  a  profit.  But  as 
population  arrives,  the  unearned  increment 
arrives  too  and  confers  profits  promiscuously 
upon  the  successive  land-owners.  In  Gary, 
Indiana,  which  this  Corporation  created,  in 
1906,  on  vacant  sand-dunes,  this  generous  policy 
resulted  in  distributing  $22,358,900  net  to 
various  private  owners  and  speculators  during 
the  next  ten  years,  a  heavy  burden  upon  the 
steel-workers  in  their  efforts  to  buy  housing 
accommodations  or  anything  else.* 

Philanthropy  and  Paternalism 

At  other  places,  under  similar  circumstances, 
many  companies  have  bought  and  kept  the  town- 
sites,  erected  good  cottages,  and  rented  them  to 
the  workers.  Sometimes  this  has  been  largely 
and  beautifully  done;  sometimes  cheaply  and 
shabbily.  The  old  New  England  factory  vil- 
lages, the  mining  towns  and  modern  creations 
like  Morgan  Park,  Minnesota  (U.  S.  Steel  Cor- 
poration), are  types.  Sometimes  the  manu- 
facturer collects  a  profit  on  his  housing  opera- 
tion. More  often  he  runs  it  at  cost,  and  some- 
times frankly  and  purposely  at  a  deficit,  con- 
sidering it  in  effect  a  supplement  to  his  wage- 
scale.  This  latter  system  thwarts  the  unearned 
increment  nicely.  The  increment  exists,  but  the 
owner  forbears  to  take  advantage  of  the  power 
to  charge  more  rent  than  his  actual  costs  dic- 
tate. But  the  system  is  paternal  and  often  sug- 
gestive of  feudalism  or  of  "Lady  Bountiful," 
which  irritates  self-respecting  labor.  The  cor- 
poration's policies  and  practices  as  a  landlord 
become  entangled  with  its  policies  as  an  em- 
ployer. In  case  of  a  strike,  shall  it  insist  on  dis- 
possessing strikers  who  are  unable  to  pay  the  rent 
and  give  the  newspapers  an  opportunity  to  pub- 
lish pictures  of  Mr.  Striker  and  his  wife  and  seven 
children  with  their  pitiful  pile  of  chairs  and 
bedding  on  the  sidewalk?  Or  shall  it  help  finance 
the  strike  by  generously  remitting  its  claims  for 
rent  in  the  cases  of  those  who  assert  themselves 
unable  to  pay?  Wise  employers  dislike  to  be 
the  landlords  of  their  workers. 

*Froni  a  report  to  the  Committee  on  New  Industrial  Towns,  by 
Dr.  R.  M.  Haig,  of  Columbia  University,  republished  in  part  in  the 
Political  Science  Quarterly,  March,  191 7.  Reprints  obtainable  from  the 
Committee. 


The  Workman  as  Home-Owner 

The  attempt  of  manufacturers  to  sell  houses 
and  lots  to  employees  on  easy  terms  or  other- 
wise is,  from  labor's  standpoint,  not  generous 
but  positively  sinister.  Except  in  towns  where 
there  is  great  diversity  of  employment,  the 
effect  is  to  tie  the  worker  to  the  mill-owner  like 
a  feudal  peasant  to  his  lord.  It  interferes  with 
the  mobility  of  labor.  As  the  Welfare  Director 
of  a  large  company  enthusiastically  explained 
to  me,  "Get  them  to  invest  their  savings  in 
their  homes  and  own  them.  Then  they  won't 
leave  and  they  won't  strike.  It  ties  them  down 
so  that  they  have  a  stake  in  our  prosperity." 

Another  informant  commented  on  the  labor 
troubles  that  brought  about  the  permanent  dis- 
mantling of  a  certain  old  plant  in  a  New  Eng- 
land village.  "Those  fool  workers!"  he  said. 
"There  a  lot  of  them  had  invested  the  savings 
of  years  in  their  homes  and  then  had  to  sell  out 
for  a  song  and  move  elsewhere.  That's  what 
they  got  for  quarreling  with  their  bread  and 
butter!" 

Community  Land  Ownership 

Are  we  agreed,  then,  that  the  housing  question 
is  partly  a  land  question?  That  an  influx  oif 
population  to  a  new  area  enhances  land  values 
and  thereby  burdens  the  incomers  to  the  full 
extent  of  their  paying  power?  That  an  improve- 
ment in  housing  likewise  enhances  land  values 
and  promptly  balks  the  progress  of  better  hous- 
ing by  a  swelling  barrier  of  unearned  increments  ? 
That  increments  must  be  anticipated  and  in 
some  way  eliminated  as  a  barrier  before  we  can 
hope  to  see  our  army  of  workers  happily  housed 
on  any  extended  scale?  That  effective  housing 
operations  must  be  on  a  large  enough  scale  to 
reserve  to  the  enterprise  the  bulk  of „ the  incre- 
ments they  create  instead  of  handing  easy  money 
to  the  neighbors?  That  this  requires  a  single 
ownership  and  control  of  the  whole  tract,  rather 
than  diversified  ownership  with  each  owner  try- 
ing to  capitalize  the  benefits  of  his  neighbor's 
progressiveness  ?  That  such  single  ownership 
may  not  wisely  be  in  the  hands  of  a  manufac- 
turer who  employs  the  tenants? 

In  whose  hands,  then? 

In  the  hands  of  the  future  community,  as  a 
whole ! 

The  medium  may  be  a  non-profit  land  com- 


SS 


''^/cf/s  /oarssr  tt?  /ta/  //vc/f 


^.U/W'M\^y 


S6 


57 


WHAT   IS  A  HOUSE? 


pany,  the  conduct  of  which  the  future  tenants 
may  control — a  private  government,  so  to 
speak;  or  the  government.  Either  might  earn 
a  surplus  but  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it 
save  to  distribute  it  in  some  kind  of  services 
among  the  tenants. 

Letchworth  and  Land  Values 

In  England  it  is  this  principle  that  underlies 
the  garden  city.  The  story  of  Letchworth  has 
been  told  already,  but  let  us  have  it  again  in 
these  particular  terms  as  a  problem  in  land. 
The  First  Garden  City  Ltd.,  seeking  no  profits 
beyond  a  cumulative  5  per  cent  on  actual  in- 
vestment, but  intent  simply  upon  an  interesting 
public  service,  bought  some  7  square  miles  of 
vacant  land  at  agricultural  prices,  planned  a 
beautiful  city  for  30,000  people  in  the  center  of 
it,  with  a  belt  of  farms  around  it,  and  put  in  the 
necessary  paving  and  utilities  to  make  it  habit- 
able. The  belt  of  farm  land  was  a  valuable 
feature;  it  prevented  neighboring  land-owners 
from  reaping  fruits  of  the  Company's  sowing. 
Any  purveyor  who  wanted  the  trade  of  Letch- 
worth must  set  up  his  shop  and  home  in  Letch- 
worth and  not  just  over  the  border,  for  the 
border  was  far  away.  Anyone  who  obtained  a 
job  in  Letchworth  must  live  and  trade  there,  too. 
So  when  the  Company  induced  manufacturers 
to  come  to  Letchworth  with  their  operatives, 
Letchworth  property  got  all  the  benefit.  The 
lots  were  not  sold  but  leased  for  99  or  999  years 
on  terms  governed  by  a  foreknowledge  of  just 
how  populous  Letchworth  was  to  be  allowed  to 
be  and  just  what  it  was  destined  to  be  like  in 
each  street  and  square.  Some  of  the  unearned 
increment  did  escape,  due  to  the  length  of  the 
leases.  The  early  lease-holds  doubtless  have  some 
salable  value  today,  and  later  leases,  made  after 
part  of  the  population  had  arrived,  were  on  an 
ascending  scale  of  rentals.  But  the  bulk  of  the 
increment  has  been  so  successfully  reserved  to 
the  Company,  and  thus  to  the  community,  that 
at  the  first  general  appraisal  of  the  Company's 
value  in  1907,  four  years  after  the  founding  of 
the  town,  there  was  already  a  net  increment  of 
£169,05.8  above  the  total  cost  to  that  date  of 
£247,806.  Since  then,  of  course,  the  increments 
have  been  vast,  and  Letchworth  shows  annual 
profits.  For  the  present,  the  Company,  with 
its  self-imposed  limit  of  5  per  cent  annual  return 
on  its  investments,  is  itself  directing  the  expen- 


diture of  the  revenues  and  performs  the  func- 
tions of  practically  a  municipal  government.  The 
property  will  some  day  be  turned  over  to  the 
people  of  Letchworth,  and  Letchworth  will  be 
owner  of  all  its  underlying  land  and  of  miles  of 
adjacent  farms,  with  revenues  beyond  the 
dreams  of  ordinary  governmental  avarice. 

Between  a  typical  group  of  private  owners 
and  the  First  Garden  City  Ltd.  there  is  a  gulf. 
For  the  annual  value  of  the  lands  at  Letchworth 
is  not  expended  upon  the  private  comforts  and 
necessities  of  a  certain  few  land-owners,  but 
upon  the  property  for  the  benefit  of  the  rent- 
payers.  The  landlords  of  Letchworth  were  eager 
to  attract  population,  but  they  wanted  it  to 
come  and  build,  not  congested  new  slums,  but 
attractive  homes  that  would  enhance  neighbor- 
ing values.  And  terms  were  accordingly  oflFered 
that  left  a  margin  in  the  worker's  budget  suf- 
ficient to  pay  for  a  decent  house. 

So  it  came  about  that  the  people  who  left  city 
slums  to  come  to  the  green  charms  and  sunshine 
of  Letchworth,  found  that  their  wages  would 
secure  for  them  attractive  cottages  on  land  that 
was  still  reasonable  despite  its  desirability.  The 
miracle  had  been  achieved  of  establishing  a  spot 
where  good  money  could  be  earned  and  city 
conveniences  obtained  without  encountering  a 
land-cost  so  inflated  as  to  exclude  the  possibility 
of  spending  money  enough  on  housing  to  secure 
wholesome  accommodations. 

In  the  case  of  those  new  and  charming  towns 
which  the  English  Government  has  built  to 
house  munition  workers,  the  unearned  increment 
has  been  likewise  carefully  squelched.  The 
land  is  taken  at  pre-war  valuation,  and  the  right 
is  reserved  of  taking  more  land  adjacent  thereto, 
if  needed,  at  the  same  speculator-defying  terms. 
The  Government,  of  course,  disdains  to  grasp 
any  of  the  increment  and  has  fixed  its  rentals  at 
figures  dictated  by  actual  costs  of  land  and 
buildings  rather  than  by  the  necessities  and 
paying  power  of  the  well-paid  munition  work- 
ers. So  the  munition  workers  are  left  able  to 
pay  for  adequate  housing. 

From  time  to  time,  in  America,  some  great 
corporation  goes  forth  and  establishes  a  big  new 
plant  on  vacant  land  and  creates  a  new  town. 
Thus,  the  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation  created  Gary, 
with  40,000  population,  Morgan  Park,  Minn., 
Fairfield,  Ala.,  and  various  ore  towns,  while  a 
square  mile  of  land  at  Ojibway,  opposite  Detroit, 


58 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


has  been  expertly  planned  for  22,000  people  and 
waits  its  time.  So  did  the  Corn  Products  Refin- 
ing Co.  create  Argo,  111.,  the  Lackawanna  Steel 
Co.,  Lackawanna,  N.Y.,  and  there  are  numerous 
other  cases.  Graham  R.  Taylor  has  told  about 
them  in  his  "Satellite  Cities." 

The  next  time  that  is  done,  the  company 
should  buy  land  enough  for  the  plant  and  the 
town,  too,  create  a  non-profit  land  company, 
sell  it  the  town-site,  and  accept  in  return  its 
first-mortgage  bonds.  The  land  company  should 
plan  the  city,  pave  it,  provide  water  and  other 
utilities,  stake  out  the  building-lots,  determine 
which  shall  be  business  streets  and  residential 
streets,  and  establish  a  minimum  cost  of  build- 
ings in  the  various  districts  to  protect  the  land 
values.  It  should  lease,  not  sell,  the  land,  fixing 
the  rentals  at  a  figure  sufficiently  low  to  keep  the 
workers  from  going  outside  the  tract  to  find 
homes.  Unless  the  size  of  the  future  population 
can  be  definitely  foreseen,  rentals  of  business 
frontages  should  be  adjusted  every  five  years, 
to  correspond  with  growth  of  the  population, 
or  perhaps,  of  the  factory  payrolls.  Residential 
rentals  could  be  made  for  fairly  long  terms — say 
fifteen  years — since  such  land  values,  even  in  a 
rapidly  growing  town,  do  not  necessarily  alter 
much.  The  employer,  if  it  be  destined  to  remain 
a  one-industry  town,  would  have  to  become  a 
partner  in  housing  operations  in  some  round- 
about way,  such  as  financing  a  building  and  loan 
association  or  helping  with  the  financing  of  a 
housing  corporation,  in  case  private  capital 
proves  timid  about  building  on  leased  land. 

The  income  from  land  rentals  at  the  modest 
rate  of  4  per  cent  on  the  enhanced  land  values 
would  be  enough  to  amortize  the  investment  and 


leave  twice  as  much  money  for  community  pur- 
poses as  the  town  would  normally  obtain  from 
taxation.  At  least,  that  is  the  way  it  figures  out 
in  both  Gary  and  Lackawanna. 

The  land  company  could  afford  to  charge  less 
than  the  traffic  would  bear,  as  the  English 
companies  do,  and  thus  leave  the  worker 
money  enough  for  good  housing.  Or,  as  I  should 
prefer,  it  could  charge  close  to  what  private  land- 
lords would  exact  and  use  these  great  revenues 
for  services  that  would  reduce  the  cost  of  living 
and  have  the  same  easing  effect  upon  the  per- 
sonal budgets  of  the  workers. 

The  same  principles  apply  to  the  pressing 
problem  of  housing  our  American  munition  and 
shipyard  workers.  Let  our  Government  create 
a  Housing  corporation  with  an  appropriation. 
Let  it  condemn  the  lands  it  needs,  build  the 
villages  and  cities  that  are  required,  and  rent 
the  houses  during  the  war.  Then,  when  the  war 
industries  have  been  readjusted  to  permanent 
peace  conditions,  let  the  Government  write  off 
the  excess  and  emergency  cost  of  its  housing 
adventure  as  a  cost  of  war,  and  recoup  the 
balance  by  selling  the  property,  not  to  individ- 
uals, but  to  local  non-profit  land  companies  to 
be  operated  for  community  revenue.  Thus  will 
be  created  communities  that  are  the  owners  of 
their  underlying  lands,  possessors  of  all  present 
and  future  increments  therein,  and  enjoying 
revenues  a  hundred  per  cent  above  those  of 
ordinary  towns  of  equal  size.  In  such  towns, 
good  housing  could  easily  be  achieved  and 
maintained. 

I  would  like  to  be  the  manufacturer,  compet- 
ing in  the  markets  of  the  world,  who  drew  his 
labor  from  such  a  town ! 


59 


Oiom  RooL  Km 


<? 


INSTITUTE  AND  SHOPS— EASTRIGGS 

This  is  an  extremely  interesting  structure.  Its  operation  may  be  clearly  understood  by  noting  that  entrance  to  the 
two  clubs  (men's  and  women's)  is  through  the  passage  into  the  court.  Buildings  of  this  sort  have  been  a  tremendous 
feature  in  stabilizing  industrial  conditions  about  munitions  plants. 


60 


-' ,.'  ,'.-''>/ 


Gretna. — Cottages  used  as  Hostels  for  Women 


Gretna. — ^The  Dental  Clinic 


6r 


Gretna. — The  Institute 


%    •  i-^ff^S'a.z.  *■  '^  !r^v* 


Gretna. — Cottages 


Gretna. — Cottages 


Gretna. — ^The  Recreation  Building 


G  RETN  A. — Cottages 


Gretna, — The  Cinema  Theatre 
64 


Gretna. — Cottages  used  as  Hostels 


Gretna. — Cottages 


Gretna. — Cottages 


r 


oim:,iNA. — Staff  Cottages 


Gretna. — Cottages 


66 


EPISCOPAL    CHURCH       GRETNA 
ELEVATIONS 


iOUTH         Lt.LVA-riOM 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


GRETNA— TWO  OF  THE  THREE  NEW  CHURCHES 


67 


E'Mmm  I  iffliiffliiffii  ;  laiifflBiiffii  |  ibpeiibii  i  ispMai  |  wmmM  tt 


HALL  AT  GRETNA 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  charm  about  this  building,  which  was  erected  in  six  and  a  half  weeks  in  order  to  introduce  a 
social  factor  which  was  found  during  the  first  few  weeks  of  operation  to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  the  efficient  operation 
of  the  factory. 


68 


What  Is  a  House?    VI 


CONSTRUCTIVE  HOUSING  LEGISLATION  AND  ITS  LESSON  FOR  THE  UNITED  STATES 

By  EDITH   ELMER   WOOD* 


L  Introduction 

CONSTRUCTIVE  HOUSING  LEGISLA- 
TION is  that  type  of  housing  legislation 
through  which  the  community  itself  under- 
takes to  provide  suitable  homes  at  cost  for  such 
of  its  citizens  as  need  them.  The  community 
may  act  either  directly  or  indirectly.  Municipal 
housing  is  direct.  The  loan  of  public  money  to 
a  housing  association  is  indirect.  Both  are  con- 
structive. 

Restrictive  housing  legislation  is  that  form 
which  seeks  to  prevent  the  erection  of  bad  houses 
through  the  establishment  and  enforcement  of 
minimum  standards  of  light,  air,  sanitation,  and 
safety.  It  may  also  prevent  filth  and  dilapida- 
tion by  establishing  and  enforcing  minimum 
standards  of  maintenance. 

The  best  restrictive  legislation  is  only  nega- 
tive. It  will  prevent  the  bad.  It  will  not  produce 
the  good.  Especially,  it  will  not  produce  it  at  a 
given  rental.  Its  only  answer  to  a  house-famine 
is  the  relaxation  of  its  own  standards.  This  was 
strikingly  illustrated  in  San  Francisco  after  the 
earthquake  and  fire  of  1906.  Instead  of  taking 
advantage  of  the  wonderful  opportunity  pre- 
sented to  rebuild  the  congested  districts  on 
model  lines,  the  need  of  immediate  shelter  was 
so  great  and  private  capital  so  timid  that  all 
bars  were  let  down  and  even  the  inadequate 
restrictions  of  the  old  building  code  were  sus- 
pended. The  result  was  that  tenements  sprang 
up,  covering  100  per  cent  of  the  lots,  and  a  dark- 
room problem  was  created  which  it  will  take  a 
generation  to  solve. 

A  high  standard  of  restrictive  legislation  will 
not  be  enacted,  or,  if  enacted,  will  not  be  en- 
forced, when  its  enforcement  would  leave  a  con- 
siderable number  of  people  homeless.  On  the 
other  hand,  restrictive  housing  legislation  must 
not  be  neglected.  The  manufacture  of  new 
slums  must  not  be  allowed  to  continue,  nor 
would  the  building  of  new  and  good  houses  in 
itself  cause  the  abandonment  of  the  objection- 

*We  here  introduce  the  third  new  author,  as  forecast  in  the  note  to 
the  authorship  of  Chapter  V. — The  Editor. 


able  old  ones.  It  would  only  cause  their  rents  to 
drop,  and  there  would  always  be  a  residuum  of 
persons,  who,  through  misfortune,  improvidence, 
or  excessive  thrift,  would  choose  them  for  their 
cheapness  so  long  as  their  occupation  was  per- 
mitted. Effective  progress,  then,  demands  a 
simultaneous  and  correlated  development  of 
both  constructive  and  restrictive  housing  legis- 
lation. 

Restrictive  housing  legislation  has  attained  as 
high  a  level  of  development  in  some  parts  of  the 
United  States  as  is,  perhaps,  possible  in  the 
absence  of  its  working  partner.  The  New  York 
Tenement  House  Law  is  the  first  of  the  modern 
type,  and  remains  one  of  the  best.*  It  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  best  enforced. 

Let  us  take  from  New  York's  experience  one 
single  example  of  the  limitations  of  restrictive 
legislation.  The  New  York  Tenement  House 
Commission  of  1900,  whose  recommendations 
resulted  in  the  enactment  of  the  present  law, 
expressed  its  regret  that  it  was  not  possible  to 
insist  on  air-shafts  being  put  in  old  houses  with 
dark  rooms,  because  the  expense  would  lead 
owners  to  turn  their  houses  to  other  uses.  "Re- 
forms of  such  a  kind,"  the  report  goes  on,  "would 
harm  most  the  very  persons  it  sought  to  aid." 
So  the  law  requires  of  dark  rooms  only  that 
windows  shall  be  cut  into  adjoining  rooms. 
According  to  the  report  of  the  Commission,  there 
were,  in  1900,  some  350,000  such  dark  rooms  in 
greater  New  York.  Today,  in  the  language  of 
the  Tenement  House  Department  and  the  press, 
there  are  none.  But  this  means  only  that  the 
cutting  of  windows  into  adjoining  rooms  has 
been  completed. 

The  old  apartments  built  before  the  Tene- 
ment House  Law  of  1879,  which  required  air- 
shafts,  were  three  and  four  rooms  deep.  One 
room  had  windows  on  street  or  back  yard;  the 
others  were  a  series  of  closets  of  increasing  dark- 
ness. The  doorway  from  one  to  another  was  the 
only  opening.  Of  course,  the  windows  cut  in  the 


*See  the  note  in  the  Appendix  in  which  Mr.  Robert  D.  Kohn  points 
out  the  serious  failures  of  the  New  York  law. 


69 


WHAT    IS    A    HOUSE? 


partitions  between  the  rooms  add  somewhat  to 
the  possibility  of  ventilating  them.  But  the 
rooms  are  still  unfit  for  human  habitation  by  any 
proper  standard.  Half  a  million  people  are  liv- 
ing in  those  rooms  today.  What  sort  of  citizens 
will  the  generation  make  that  was  born  and 
bred  in  them  ? 

After  fifteen  years  of  operation  of  the  New 
York  Tenement  House  Law,  about  three  million 
people,  including  practically  the  whole  of  the 
unskilled  wage-earning  class,  are  still  living  in 
old-law  tenements.  On  December  31,  191 6, 
there  were  77,604  old-law  tenements  in  New 
York  containing  597,955  apartments.  There 
were  at  that  time  27,149  new-law  tenements 
with  378,442  apartments.  Nor  may  we  look  for- 
ward hopef^ully  to  the  gradual  elimination  of  the 
old  tenements  and  the  substitution  of  the  newer 
and  better  type;  for,  as  was  stated  by  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  New  York  Tenement  House 
Department  at  the  National  Housing  Conference 
in  November,  191 6,  the  building  of  cheap  tene- 
ments in  New  York  has  ceased. 

Unless  wages  of  unskilled  workers  can  be 
practically  doubled  without  rents  being  raised, 
which  is  clearly  impossible  under  present  con- 
ditions, the  outlook  for  this  great  class  of  the 
population  in  New  York  City,  under  existing 
legislation,  is  dark  now  and  will  become  increas- 
ingly so,  as  the  cheap  old-law  buildings  dis- 
appear. 

What  is  true  in  New  York  is  true  of  other 
American  cities.  Their  housing  problems  do  not 
differ  from  those  of  New  York  in  kind,  but 
only  in  bulk. 

Mr.  John  Nolen  ("Industrial  Housing,"  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Fifth  National  Housing  Confer- 
ence, 1 91 6,  p.  5)  is  responsible  for  the  following 
striking  juxtaposition  of  facts:  The  simplest 
acceptable  standard  of  American  home,  whether 
single  cottage  in  village  or  suburb,  or  whole- 
some apartment  in  a  large  city,  costs  on  an 
average  from  1 1,800  to  $2,000  per  family,  in- 
cluding land  and  improvements.  This  means, 
on  a  basis  of  moderate  commercial  profit  (5  or  6 
per  cent — and  capital  will  not  be  invested  for 
less),  a  rent  of  $15  a  month  at  the  least.  It  is 
generally  accepted  that  not  more  than  20  per 
cent  of  the  family  income  should  go  for  rent; 
yet  more  than  half  of  all  the  workingmen  in  the 
United  States  receive  less  than  I15  a  week. 

What  are  we  going  to  do  about  it  ?  Lower  the 


standard?  Increase  wages  without  increasing 
rents?  Or  eliminate  the  commercial  profit?  We  are 
up  against  a  stone  wall  whichever  way  we  turn. 

Here  is  where  the  experience  of  the  older  na- 
tions is  useful  to  us.  They  came  to  the  same 
stone  wall  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and  they 
found  a  way  through.  It  did  not  lead  into  para- 
dise. Indeed  it  only  set  them  on  a  road.  But  it 
took  them  past  the  stone  wall,  and  the  road 
points  in  the  right  direction. 

II.  The  Experience  of  Foreign  Countries 

Constructive  housing  legislation  has  developed  along 
four  main  lines,  of  which  three  may  be  said  to  involve  Gov- 
ernment aid  of  a  positive  sort  and  one  of  a  negative. 

1 .  Direct  community  action.  The  state,  or  more  usually 
the  city,  buys  land  and  builds  houses  for  working  people, 
either  in  the  city  itself  or  in  garden  suburbs.  It  may  rent 
them  and  remain  a  landlord.  Or  it  may  sell  them  to  the 
tenants  on  a  system  of  long-term,  easy  payments. 

2.  The  state  may  lend  money  at  a  low  rate  of  interest 
to  non-commercial  building  associations,  whether  of  a 
philanthropic  character,  or  cooperative  or  co-partnership 
societies  formed  by  the  workingmen  themselves. 

3.  The  third  type  has  so  far  produced  fewer  houses 
than  either  of  the  others,  yet  would  probably  appeal  more 
quickly  to  most  Americans.  It  is  the  loan  of  money  on 
favorable  conditions  to  the  individual  workingman  who 
wishes  to  build  a  home.  It  may  be  done  through  the  inter- 
mediary of  a  loan  company,  as  in  Belgium,  or  directly,  as 
under  the  surprisingly  simple  and  efficient  system  of  New 
Zealand  and  Australia.  Yet,  appealing  as  the  type  is,  and 
useful  as  it  is  within  certain  limits,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  it  does  not  reach — cannot  reach — the  class  that  is  in 
most  urgent  need  of  help — the  unskilled  wage-earners  of 
large  cities. 

4.  Finally,  there  is  the  negative,  yet  often  important, 
aid  rendered  by  tax  exemptions  on  houses  of  approved 
standard  and  rental.  The  function  of  this  type  is  auxiliary. 

Some  countries  have  developed  one  or  two,  and  some 
have  all  four  types  of  government  aid.  It  has  depended 
somewhat  on  a  diversity  of  local  needs,  but  more  on  na- 
tional habits  of  thought.  The  accident  of  locality  has 
contributed  largely,  for,  other  things  being  at  all  equal,  the 
example  of  a  near  neighbor  is  most  likely  to  be  followed. 

Three  nations  stand  out  as  pioneers  in  constructive 
housing  legislation — England,  Belgium,  and  Germany. 
These  distinctively  industrial  nations,  whose  cities  grew 
with  unexampled  rapidity  during  the  nineteenth  century, 
were  naturally  the  first  to  feel  the  pressure  of  housing 
problems.  They  will  be  considered  briefly  in  the  order 
indicated. 
A.  The  Pioneers. 

(1)  England.* 

•Scotland  is  under  the  same  housing  laws  as  England  and  Wales, 
but  as  statistics  are  given  separately,  and  her  experience  is  similar  to 
that  of  England,  though  on  a  smaller  scale,  it  is  omitted  from  this  sum- 
mary. Ireland  is  under  another  dispensation,  which  involves  subsidies 
from  the  Imperial  exchequer  and  aid  from  the  local  rates.  The  Irish 
experience  has  more  in  common  with  outdoor  poor  relief  than  with 
constructive  housing  legislation. 


.70 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


{a)  Description  of  Legislation. 

Lord  Shaftsbury  first  formulated  the  principles  on  which 
modern  constructive  housing  laws  are  based  in  his  Laboring 
Classes  Lodging  Houses  Act  of  185 1,  which  permitted  local 
authorities  to  borrow  money  from  the  Public  Works  Loan 
Commissioners  to  erect  dwellings  for  working-people.  This 
provision  was  so  far  in  advance  of  public  opinion  that  it 
remained  a  dead  letter  for  forty  years.  Another  clause, 
permitting  loans  to  non-commercial  building  associations, 
was  tried  out  first.  Under  it  and  subsequent  acts  a  series 
of  relatively  small  sums,  amounting  altogether  to  about 
£1,000,000,  were  loaned  to  philanthropic  and  semi-philan- 
thropic societies. 

During  this  period,  England  was  experimenting  with 
two  series  of  restrictive  housing  laws,  the  Cross  and  Torrens 
Acts,  which  gave,  as  did  the  Public  Health  Acts,  consider- 
able power  to  health  officers  in  connection  with  housing, 
and  permitted  the  slum-clearance  schemes  which  have  been 
so  often  criticized  on  the  ground  of  expense. 

Modern  British  experience  dates  from  the  Housing  of 
the  Working  Classes  Act  of  1890,  the  scope  of  which  was 
much  enlarged  by  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  of 
1909.  The  act  of  1890,  coming  as  the  result  of  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Housing  of 
the  Working  Classes  of  1885,  was  a  consolidation  of  all 
previous  housing  acts  (which  may  account  for  its  occasional 
lack  of  clearness)  and  also  contained  new  provisions  of 
great  importance.  It  is  in  seven  parts,  of  which  the  first 
three  are  the  most  significant.  Part  I  deals  with  large, 
insanitary,  or  slum  areas,  and  clearance  schemes,  and  with 
the  general  obligation  of  rehousing  the  dispossessed  ten- 
ants. Part  II  deals  with  single  insanitary  houses  or  small 
groups  of  them  and  with  obstructive  houses,  which  shut 
light  and  air  out  from  others.  Part  III  deals  with  housing 
undertakings  by  the  local  authorities,  with  the  financing 
of  these  projects  and  the  conditions  of  public  loans,  whether 
to  local  authorities,  to  societies,  or  to  individuals. 

The  first  two  parts,  then,  except  in  so  far  as  they  involve 
the  rehousing  of  dispossessed  tenants,  are  restrictive  legis- 
lation and  need  not  detain  us.  Their  aim  is  to  enlarge  the 
powers  of  the  sanitary  officials.  Part  III  and  the  rehousing 
sections  of  Parts  I  and  II  are  constructive.  They  permit 
local  authorities,  urban  and  rural,  on  having  convinced  the 
Local  Government  Board  that  the  need  exists,  to  acquire 
land  and  erect  workingmen's  dwellings,  whether  tene- 
ments or  cottages,  within  their  own  jurisdiction  or  in 
adjoining  suburbs,  with  gardens  if  desired,  of  not  more 
than  one  acre  to  a  house.  Under  the  act  of  1909  this  part 
becomes  obligatory  if  the  Local  Government  Board  so 
orders,  and  any  group  of  taxpayers  or  tenants  may  peti- 
tion the  Local  Government  Board  to  make  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  needs  of  their  locality. 

As  to  financing  these  operations,  the  local  authorities 
may  borrow  from  the  Public  Works  Loan  Commissioners 
on  the  security  of  their  rates.  The  1909  law  makes  the 
conditions  very  favorable,  the  maximum  time  being  eighty 
years  for  land  and  sixty  for  buildings,  the  maximum 
amount  two-thirds  of  the  total  value,  and  the  lowest  rate  of 
interest  3>^  per  cent.  (This  has  gone  up  since  the  war, 
reaching  5  per  cent  in  March,  191 6,  but  it  is  not  expected 
that  this  increase  will  be  permanent.)  The  London  County 
Council,  which  enjoys  considerable  home  rule,  is  permitted 


to  finance  its  housing  schemes  by  the  issue  of  consolidated 
stock. 

The  Public  Works  Loan  Board  is  also  authorized  to 
loan  money  for  the  construction  of  workingmen's  dwellings 
to  societies,  corporations,  and  private  individuals.  This 
does  not  mean  the  individual  workingman,  however,  but 
the  philanthropist  or  employer  who  is  building  on  a  large 
scale.  The  need  of  the  individual  workingman  is  met,  in 
so  far  as  it  is  met  at  all,  by  the  Small  Dwellings  Acquisition 
Act  of  1899,  which  permits  local  authorities  to  advance 
sums  not  exceeding  £300,  representing  not  more  than  four- 
fifths  the  market  value  of  a  house  whose  total  value  must 
not  exceed  £400.  No  very  extensive  use  has  been  made  of 
this  act,  as  up  to  March  31,  1916,  only  £408,129  had  been 
loaned  under  it.  But  the  use  is  evidently  growing,  for 
about  half  of  this  sum  has  been  loaned  in  the  last  three 
years. 

The  fourth  type  of  Government  aid,  tax  exemption,  is 
also  found  in  Great  Britain,  but,  like  the  loan  to  individual 
workingmen,  it  plays  a  minor  role.  As  between  the  two 
principal  forms,  the  activities  of  the  private  associations 
were  much  the  more  important  in  early  years,  but  although 
they  have  increased  steadily,  they  have  recently  dropped 
to  second  place  through  the  more  rapid  growth  of  the  work 
of  local  authorities. 

An  interesting  controversy  has  raged  between  the 
advocates  of  the  two  systems.  The  municipal  housing  side 
is  led  by  Alderman  Thompson,  of  Richmond,  author  of  the 
"Housing  Handbook"  and  "Housing  up  to  Date,"  and  the 
opposition  by  Councillor  Nettlefold,  of  Birmingham, 
author  of  "A  Housing  Policy"  and  "Practical  Housing." 
Councillor  Nettlefold's  greatest  service  lies  in  having 
pointed  out  the  possibility,  by  patient,  persistent  work  on 
the  part  of  local  authorities,  of  eradicating  slums  without 
burdening  the  taxpayer,  by  the  application  of  Part  II  of  the 
housing  act  to  one  insanitary  house  after  another,  which 
obliges  the  owner  to  repair  or  remove  them  at  his  own 
expense. 

Moreover,  in  their  efforts  to  prove  the  superiority  of 
private  initiative  over  municipal.  Councillor  Nettlefold 
and  his  associates  have  put  a  great  deal  of  energy  into 
making  a  success  of  co-partnership  housing  companies. 

The  net  result  of  the  controversy  has  been  distinctly 
helpful.  Municipal  activity  has  tended  to  keep  up  stand- 
ards and  that  of  private  associations  to  keep  down  cost. 
Each  is  put  on  its  mettle  to  prove  its  own  claim  to  superi- 
ority. Far  from  stifling  private  initiative,  the  eflPect  of 
Government  intervention  appears  to  be  stimulating.  At 
all  events,  the  greatest  private  activity  has  occurred  in 
those  localities  where  public  officials  have  done  most. 

Under  the  Housing  of  the  Working  Classes  Acts,  those 
entitled  to  receive  loans,  besides  local  authorities  and  pri- 
vate individuals,  are  employing  corporations  and  public 
utility  societies.  These  must  not  be  confused  with  what  we 
call  public  utilities  in  the  United  States.  They  are  what 
we  know  as  public  welfare  or  limited-dividend  associations. 
They  include  the  philanthropic  limited-dividend  housing 
associations  and  the  friendly  societies,  or  mutual  benefit 
organizations  of  workingmen,  which  have  many  objects 
besides  housing,  also  a  great  number  of  cooperative  build- 
ing clubs,  and,  more  recently,  the  co-partnership  building 
associations. 


71 


WHAT    IS    A    HOUSE? 


The  Act  of  1909,  known  as  the  John  Burns  Act,  has 
four  parts.  Part  I  reenacts  the  statute  of  1890  with 
amendments.  Part  II  deals  with  town  planning.  It  per- 
mits local  authorities  and  owners  of  estates,  with  the 
approval  of  the  Local  Government  Board,  to  prepare 
plans  for  undeveloped  areas.  Its  aim  is  to  prevent  conges- 
tion of  population  and  inflation  of  land  values  in  the  future. 
Part  III  is  restrictive.  It  establishes  a  system  of  nation- 
wide housing  inspection  under  sanitary  authorities  report- 
ing to  the  Local  Government  Board.  Part  IV  is  the  usual 
catchall  for  miscellany,  without  which  no  British  statute 
appears  to  be  complete. 

{b)  Results  of  Legislation. 

No  authoritative  publication  of  general  results  has  been 
made.  Certain  figures,  such  as  the  amounts  loaned  by  the 
Public  Works  Loan  Board,  the  number  of  persons  housed 
by  the  London  County  Council,  or  the  number  of  houses 
built  by  local  authorities  after  the  passage  of  the  Act 
of  1909,  are  known  with  perfect  accuracy.  Certain  broad 
statements  are  found  in  the  works  of  Thompson  which  are 
probably  reliable,  although  he  does  not  always  give  his 
authorities.  But  they  do  not  carry  us  beyond  1907.  For 
other  data  needed^to  complete  the  picture,  we  are  reduced 
to  estimates^based  on  more  or  less  inadequate  information. 
The  result  cannot  pretend  to  scientific  accuracy,  but  may 
be  justified  by  the  importance  of  arriving  at  a  general 
impression. 

Public  Money  Invested  in  Housing  in  England 

(From  the  Forty-fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Public  Works  Loan  Board 
1915-16.) 

Total  loaned  to  Local  Authorities  in  England  and  Wales    .  £3,972,390 

Total  loaned  to  societies  and  individuals  in  England  .  .  .  3,260,078 
Total  loaned  under  the  Small  Dwellings  Acquisition  Act  in 

England 408,129 

Total  to  March  31,  1916 ^Tfi¥^>S9l 

This  does  not  take  into  account  what  the  London  County 
Council  has  spent  (which,  exclusive  of  slum-clearance 
costs,  must  be  between  two  and  three  million  of  pounds), 
nor  what  has  been  spent  by  Liverpool  and  other  cities  under 
local  acts. 

Houses     Built    and     Persons     Housed    in     England     through 
Constructive  Housing  Legislation 

Number  of 
Agency  Persons 

London  County  Council  (to  May  31,  1915,  Annual  Reports) 

iiSo  apSments  :  '.'.\  [   9,822  lettings ) 

1:874  cubicles        ...  J    128,252  rooms    j"  "'94 

Local  Authorities  1910-16  (Forty-fifth  Annual  Report  Local 
Government  Board) 
13,259  houses (estimated)  66,300 

Local  Authorities,  1891-1910 

Number  of  houses  not  given,  but  total  loans  are  about  two- 
thirds  of  total  loans  1910-16.  As  cost  of  building  was 
less,  the  number  of  people  housed  was  probably 
about  (estimated) 50,000 

City  of  Liverpool  to  1913,  mostly  under  local  acts,  2,731  dwell- 
ings (U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bulletin  No. 
158,  p.  314)  (estimated) 10,000 

All  other  cities  under  local  acts  (estimated) 10,000 

10  Philanthropic  Societies  of  London  to  1907  (W.  Thompson 

"Housing  up  to  Date,"  p.  I43) 125,000 

413  Cooperative  Societies  to  1907,  46,707  houses  (W.  Thomp- 
son, "Housing  up  to  Date,"  p.  143)  (estimated)   .    .    .  200,000 

Co-partnership  Societies  to  1907,  400  houses  (W.  Thompson, 

"Housing  up  to  Date,"  p.  143) 2,000 

Under  Small  Dwellings  Acquisition  Act  (estimated) 7, 500 

Total  number  of  persons  housed 528,742 

72 


The  philanthropic  societies  have  not  been  active  since 
1907,  but  the  cooperative  and  co-partnership  societies 
have  been  extremely  so.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the 
philanthropic  and  cooperative  societies  may  have  received 
no  public  loans.  Balancing  these  two  unknown  quantities 
against  each  other,  with  the  statement  that  the  credit 
item  is  likely  to  be  larger  than  the  debit,  we  are  pretty 
safe  in  saying  that  over  half  a  million  people  in  England 
today  owe  their  comfortable  homes  to  constructive  hous- 
ing legislation. 

Results,  in  decreased  death-rates  and  increased  physical 
development,  are  very  striking.  For  the  year  ending  March, 
1912,  the  death-rate  in  the  London  County  Councils' 
dwellings  was  8.5  per  1,000,  while  for  the  whole  of  London, 
in  191 1,  it  was  15  per  1,000  (U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Sta- 
tistics, Bulletin  No.  158,  p.  307).  Speaking  of  a  slightly 
earlier  period,  Thompson  says  ("Housing  up  to  Date," 
p.  46):  "The  death-rate  in  the  model  dwellings  on  cleared 
slum  areas  is  under  13  per  1,000,  or  one-third  of  what  it 
was  in  the  old  slums  before  clearance,  viz.,  40  per  1,000." 
At  the  time  of  which  Thompson  was  writing  the  general 
death-rate  in  London  was  15.6  (p.  75).  In  Liverpool  a  still 
clearer  demonstration  was  made  when,  by  special  effort, 
94  per  cent  of  the  former  tenants  were  rehoused  on  a 
cleared  area.  "In  190a  .  .  .  when  these  areas  were  con- 
demned, the  death-rate  within  them  ranged  from  40  to  60 
per  1,000,  and  the  incidence  of  phthisis  resulted  in  an 
annual  death-rate  of,  approximately,  4  per  1,000  .  .  . 
the  medical  officer  of  health  points  out  that  under  the  new 
conditions  the  general  death-rate  has  fallen  by  more  than 
one-half,  and  the  average  annual  death-rate  from  phthisis 
in  the  corporation  tenements  during  the  four  years  1909 
to  1 91 2  fell  to  1.9  per  1,000."  (Forty-second  Annual 
Report,  Local  Government  Board,  Part  II,  pp.  xxii, 
xxiii.) 

It  happens  that  the  classic  examples  of  the  effect  of 
housing  on  physical  development  are  furnished  by  two 
famous  industrial  garden  suburbs  which  have  received  no 
Government  aid — Port  Sunlight  and  Bourn ville.  It  would 
hardly  be  claimed,  though,  that  the  beneficent  results 
recorded  were  due  to  the  method  of  financing  them,  or 
that  similar  results  would  not  be  found  where  the  Public 
Works  Loan  Commissioners  supplied  the  funds.  Dr.  Arkle 
made  a  series  of  measurements  of  schoolboys  at  Port 
Sunlight,  an  industrial  garden  suburb  of  Liverpool,  and 
on  Liverpool  schoolboys  of  the  same  economic  and  social 
class  at  the  same  ages.  At  seven  the  Port  Sunlight  boys 
averaged  2.7  inches  taller  and  7.5  pounds  heavier;  at 
fourteen  they  were  6  inches  taller  and  33.8  pounds  heavier. 
(The  table  is  quoted  in  full  in  "Personal  Observations  of 
Some  Housing  Developments  in  Europe,"  Richard  R. 
Watrous,  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects, 
July,  1914.)  Similarly,  Bournville  is  a  garden  suburb  ot 
Birmingham,  and  Thompson  tells  us  ("Housing  up  to 
Date,"  p.  3)  that  the  boys  at  the  Bournville  school  were 
on  an  average  4  inches  taller  than  those  of  Birmingham, 
and  their  chest  measurement  was  3  inches  greater. 

(2)  Belgium. 

The  Belgians  have  the  honor  of  having  produced  the 
earliest  effective  national  constructive  housing  law — that 
of  1889 — and,  up  to  the  present  time,  one  of  the  best.    It 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


has  also  been  one  of  the  most  influential,  having  been 
widely  observed  and  copied  in  continental  Europe. 

The  vitally  distinguishing  feature  of  the  law  is  its  libera- 
tion of  the  deposits  of  the  General  Savings  Bank  and 
Pension  Fund  {caisse  gSnerale  d'Spargne  et  de  retraite)  for 
use  as  loans  to  build  workingmen's  dwellings.  This  pro- 
vision was  copied  directly  in  the  French  act  of  1894  and 
may  have  suggested  the  German  plan  of  using  state  in- 
surance funds. 

Another  important  provision  of  the  Belgian  law  was  the 
appointment  of  unpaid  housing  committees  {comitSs  de 
patronage)  in  every  arrondissement  of  the  nation,  report- 
ing to  a  central  body,  the  conseil  superieure  d'hygiene 
publique.  They  have  educational,  advisory,  and  even  some 
administrative  functions.  They  stimulate  public  interest 
in  housing,  assist  limited-dividend  building  associations 
and  individual  workingmen  who  wish  to  own  houses,  and 
they  watch  over  the  enforcement  of  restrictive  laws  for 
the  sanitary  supervision  of  houses  and  the  eradication  of 
slums.  The  committees  have  been  copied  in  French  and 
Italian  legislation  and  evidently  suggested  the  county 
housing  committees  provided  for  in  Part  III  of  the  British 
act  of  1909. 

Municipal  housing  is  permitted  under  the  Belgian  law, 
but  has  not  been  developed  to  any  extent.  Building  so- 
cieties and  individual  workingmen  have  been  the  active 
agents,  the  individual  workingmen  through  the  inter- 
mediary of  non-commercial  loan  associations.  The  Sav- 
ings Bank  was  at  first  permitted  to  loan  only  5  per  cent  of 
its  funds,  but  when  this  limit  was  reached  in  1901,  it  was 
raised  to  7>^  per  cent.  The  interest  charged  at  first  was 
only  1I/2  per  cent,  but  was  eventually  increased  to  33^  per 
cent. 

The  individual  workingman  may  borrow  not  to  exceed 
5,000  francs  on  a  house  and  land,  the  combined  value  of 
which  does  not  exceed  5,500  francs.  He  may  borrow  for 
periods  of  from  five  to  twenty-five  years.  His  payments 
may  be  monthly  or  yearly. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  Belgian  law 
is  the  insurance  plan  devised  by  M.  L6on  Mahillon,  man- 
aging director  of  the  General  Savings  Bank.  A  working- 
man  borrowing  to  build  a  home  takes  out  a  policy  on  his 
life  for  the  unpaid  portion  of  his  loan.  Should  he  die  be- 
fore the  payments  are  completed,  the  balance  of  the  debt 
is  canceled  by  the  policy,  and  his  widow  receives  the  house 
unincumbered.  The  Savings  Bank  underwrites  the  insur- 
ance itself.  This  feature  of  the  law  has  been  very  widely 
copied. 

Up  to  1 913  the  General  Savings  Bank  had  advanced 
159,012,589  francs  to  the  various  types  of  societies,  and 
about  57,300  dwellings  had  been  built  in  consequence. 
This  must  have  meant  the  housing  of  about  300,000  people. 
On  Jan.  i,  1913,  there  were  176  associations  having  loan 
contracts  with  the  bank,  of  which  167  were  joint  stock  and 
9  cooperative.  All  of  the  cooperative  and  125  of  the  joint 
stock  organizations  were  loan  companies,  only  42  being 
building  societies. 

Apparently  this  governmental  assistance  has  not  had 
the  effect  of  discouraging  private  initiative,  for  39  societes 
d' habitations  <i  l>on  marchS,  which  have  received  no  loans 
from  the  General  Savings  Bank,  are  listed,  which  have 
invested  over  65,000,000  francs  in  workingmen's  dwellings. 


About  three-quarters  of  this  sum  represents  industrial 
housing  enterprises  by  employers. 

(Ministere  de  I'lnt^rieure  "Annuaire  Statistique  de  la 
Belgique  et  du  Congo  Beige,  44me  Ann6e,  1913,  Brussels, 
191 4,  pp.  245-250.) 

(3)  Germany. 

Unlike  the  various  forms  of  social  insurance  which  were 
embodied  in  imperial  legislation,  and  so  may  be  said  to 
radiate  from  the  center  outward,  housing  reform  in  Ger- 
many has  grown  up  locally,  and  its  progress  has  been  from 
the  circumference  inward.  Individual  cities  tried  experi- 
ments in  municipal  housing.  The  next  step  was  for  indi- 
vidual states  to  pass  laws  facilitating  the  supply  of  funds 
to  cities  and  to  private  societies  for  housing  purposes. 
These  laws  differ  among  themselves  in  their  provisions  and 
their  character,  much  as  happens  in  the  United  States  in 
our  varying  state  legislation.  The  last  to  act  was  the 
Imperial  Government,  and  there  is  not  yet,  although  it 
has  been  much  advocated  and  debated,  a  real  national 
housing  law  in  Germany. 

As  is  often  the  case,  the  trail  leads  back  to  a  person- 
ality, and  the  Oberburgermeister  of  Ulm,  Dr.  von  Wagner, 
may  well  be  called  the  father  of  municipal  housing  in 
Germany.  He  began  building  in  1888  for  municipal  em- 
ployees and  later  extended  the  benefits  of  his  activities  to 
all  workingmen.  His  first  ventures  were  tenements,  but  he 
soon  became  convinced  of  the  advantages  of  the  individual 
cottage  and  garden  type,  and  these  he  encouraged  the 
tenants  to  purchase.  A  mark  a  day  over  a  period  of  about 
twenty-five  years  covered  the  purchase  price  and  interest  of 
a  ^1,500,  brick,  story-and-a-half  cottage  and  garden,  very 
attractive  to  the  eye.  German  foresight  is  shown  in  the 
stipulation  in  the  deed  giving  the  city  the  right  to  repur- 
chase, if  certain  conditions  of  maintenance  or  use  are  not 
complied  with,  at  any  time  within  one  hundred  years,  and  as 
this  clause  is  renewed  whenever  the  house  changes  hands 
by  purchase  or  inheritance,  it  is,  in  effect,  a  perpetual  re- 
striction. 

Mayor  von  Wagner  developed,  simultaneously  with 
housing,  the  policy  of  extensive  land  purchases  by  the 
city,  which  many  German  cities  have  followed.  He  en- 
countered much  opposition  at  first,  but  it  gradually  died 
out  when  it  had  been  proved  by  experience  that  his  hous- 
ing policy  cost  the  taxpayers  nothing,  and  that  the  land- 
purchasing  policy  brought  in  substantial  profits. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  a  clear  account  of  housing  in 
Germany  briefly y  for  it  is  the  history  of  a  great  number  of 
local  enterprises  operated  under  a  mass  of  very  diverse 
local  legislation. 

The  most  important  single  source  of  funds  is  furnished 
by  the  old-age  and  invalidity  insurance  institutes.  Author- 
ity is  found  in  the  law  of  1889,  much  amplified  by  that  of 
1 899,  which  permits  one-fourth  of  their  funds  to  be  invested 
in  real  estate.  Loans  from  this  source  up  to  the  end  of 
1914  totaled  532,541,142  marks.  ("Amtliche  Nachrichten 
des  Reichsversicherungsamts,"  Vol.  31,  No.  5,  May  15, 
1915.) 

The  next  most  important  sources  of  capital  are  the 
imperial  and  state  housing  funds.  The  Imperial  Govern- 
ment, between  1901  and  1908,  appropriated  ^7,854,000  for 
its  fund  to  loan  to  societies,  and  in  1904  had  spent  over 


73 


WHAT    IS    A    HOUSE? 


$8,000,000  in  the  direct  housing  of  its  own  employees. 
(U.  S.  Bureau  Labor  Statistics,  Bulletin  No.  158.) 

The  Prussian  Diet  has  operated  on  a  more  extensive 
scale.  Its  housing  fund,  raised  by  the  issue  of  bonds,  was 
started  in  1895,  and  in  191 1  had  reached  the  sum  of  144,- 
000,000  marks.  With  this  the  state  was  to  build  for  its 
own  employees  and  loan  to  societies.  In  either  case  rents 
were  to  cover  the  cost  of  maintenance,  administration, 
interest,  and  sinking  fund.  (Bulletin  No.  158.)  This  is  the 
usual  German  plan,  though  the  administration  charges 
are  sometimes  carried  by  the  community,  and  there  are 
sometimes  tax  exemptions.  But  there  is  always  a  balance- 
sheet — and  it  always  balances.  This  practice  cannot  be 
too  highly  commended. 

No  other  state  has  worked  on  so  large  a  scale  as  Prussia, 
but  all  have  done  something.  The  Bavarian  Diet,  for  in- 
stance, from  1900-191 1  appropriated  25,500,000  marks,  of 
which  about  half  was  spent  on  direct  housing  for  state  em- 
ployees and  half  was  loaned  to  building  associations. 
(Bulletin  No.  158.) 

The  Grand  Duchy  of  Hesse  has  proceeded  along  some- 
what different  lines.  It  was  the  first  German  state  to 
establish  systematic  housing  inspection  (1893).  The  hous- 
ing act  of  1902,  centralized  and  standardized  this  service 
by  putting  it  under  a  state  official,  who  also  has  advisory 
and  constructive  duties.  Another  act  of  the  same  year 
established  the  State  Credit  Bank  {Landeskreditkasse), 
which  is  permitted  to  loan  to  communes  for  housing  pur- 
poses up  to  90  per  cent  of  the  value  of  land  and  buildings. 
The  communes  may  either  build  themselves  or  reloan  to 
associations.  By  an  act  of  1908  the  Bank  was  permitted  to 
loan  directly  to  associations  up  to  two-thirds  of  the  value. 
The  money  is  provided  by  an  issue  of  3^  per  cent  Hessian 
Government  bonds,  and  the  rate  of  interest  charged  de- 
pends on  the  actual  sale  price  of  the  bonds,  being  just 
enough  to  cover  the  expenses. 

In  1 91 2  there  were  1,271  public  welfare  building  associa- 
tions in  Germany  {gemeinniitzige  Baugenossenschajten),  of 
which  the  716  reporting  had  built  15,784  houses  at  a  cost 
of  j5 1 03 ,000,000.  A  French  official  publication  of  August, 
1913  (bulleiin  du  ministere  du  travail),  estimates  that  as 
early  as  1909  about  25,000  houses,  containing  about  100,000 
apartments,  had  been  built  by  German  housing  associations. 
Assuming  the  accuracy  of  this  estimate,  it  would  mean  the 
housing  of  about  half  a  million  people.  And  probably  the 
states  and  cities  have  done  as  much  directly. 

It  would  be  a  difficult  matter  to  find  out  how  much 
Government  money,  or  Government  guarded  money  has 
been  liberated  for  use  in  housing  in  Germany,  but  ^200,- 
000,000  would  certainly  be  within  the  truth. 

Clearly  there  is  no  other  country  which  has  gone  into 
housing  on  so  large  a  scale  or  in  so  systematic  a  way. 

B.  Other  European  and  Latin-American  Countries. 

(i)  France. 

Housing  laws  date  from  1894,  1906,  and  191 2.  The 
savings  bank  and  national  old-age  pension  fund  have 
loaned  about  55,000,000  francs  for  housing.  The  state 
has  made  available  about  100,000,000  francs  for  this  pur- 
pose. The  conseil  superieure  d' habitations  i  bon  marche 
is  under  the  department  of  labor.   Reporting  to  it  are  the 


local  comites  de  patronage.  Nearly  all  the  work  has  been  done 
through  housing  associations.  Municipal  housing  has  been 
undertaken  only  for  the  benefit  of  large  families  (those  with 
four  or  more  children),  which  it  is,  of  course,  the  policy  of 
the  French  Government  to  encourage.  The  war  is  likely 
to  result  in  the  French  Government  undertaking  housing 
and  town-planning  work  on  an  unprecedented  scale. 

(2)  Italy,  190J,  190'/,  igo8. 

The  cities  of  Bologna  and  Venice  experimented  in 
municipal  housing  at  a  very  early  date  (the  sixties  and 
eighties),  though  not  with  remarkable  success.  It  seems  to 
be  the  policy  of  the  Italian  Government  to  foster  private 
initiative  in  every  way.  The  local  committees  are  to  en- 
courage existing  housing  societies  or  found  them  if  none 
exist.  These  societies  receive  long-time  loans  (fifty  years) 
from  the  State  Bank  of  Deposits.  The  communes  are  to 
build  only  as  a  last  resort.  In  191 1,  $33  associations  and  25 
municipalities  were  building  f<?j^/»o^o/dn.  These  are  almost 
invariably  tenements,  and  the  apartments  are  very  small — 
two  or  three  rooms.  The  value  of  houses  and  land  aggre- 
gates about  128,000,000.  Tenants  of  municipal  apartments 
are  limited  to  those  whose  annual  income  does  not  exceed 
1,500  lire. 

(3)  Austria,  1910,  igii. 

The  German  example  has  been  followed.  There  is  a 
state  housing  fund.  The  funds  of  the  insurance  institutes 
are  utilized.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  loans  may  run  as 
high  as  90  per  cent  of  the  value  of  house  and  land.  The 
state,  though  late  in  beginning,  has  been  active  in  housing 
its  own  employees,  and  there  are  already  634  public  wel- 
fare building  associations. 

(4)  Hungary,  1910,  igii. 

The  most  noteworthy  activity  of  Hungary  has  been 
along  the  line  of  rural  housing.  Two  hundred  communes 
have  received  aid  from  the  Central  Government  in  build- 
ing 6,000  cottages  for  agricultural  laborers. 

The  city  of  Budapest  has  been  very  energetic.  The  city 
built  tenements  for  22,000  people,  in  1908,  on  land  which 
it  already  owned.  In  1913  it  provided  cottages  for  18,000 
in  the  workmen's  suburb  of  Kispest. 

Housing  associations  have  never  taken  root  in  Hungary. 
There  seems  to  be  a  lack  of  the  necessary  private  initiative. 

(5)  Spain,  191 1. 

The  Spanish  law  provides  local  housing  committees 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  department  of  labor.  It  en- 
courages sanitary  housing  by  tax  exemption,  guarantee  of 
interest,  and  in  some  cases  free  grants  of  land.  It  is  not 
discoverable  that  much  has  been  done. 

(6)  Holland,  1901. 

The  Dutch  law  is  a  comprehensive  one  with  both  re- 
strictive and  constructive  provisions.  It  sets  up  minimum 
standards  of  building  and  maintenance,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  permits  Government  loans  for  housing  purposes,  on 
the  other,  up  to  100  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  house  and 
lot.  That  less  than  $2,000,000  had  been  loaned  under  this 
law,  up  to  April,  19 10,  is  probably  due  to  the  compara- 
tively high  rate  of  interest  charged. 


74 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


(7)  Norway,  190^. 

This  law  is  unusual  in  that  it  provides  only  for  individual 
loans.  There  is  a  state  loan  bank.  The  commune  guaran- 
tees the  borrower.  To  1913  about  |8, 500,000  had  been 
loaned  to  buy  13,140  small  farms  and  build  9,460  houses. 

(8)  Sweden,  1904. 

There  is  a  state  housing  fund  which  loans  to  individuals 
through  associations.  There  is  also  municipal  housing, 
especially  in  Stockholm. 

(9)  Denmark,  1887. 

This  law,  which  actually  antedated  that  of  Belgium, 
permitted  Government  loans  to  societies  and  communes, 
but  remained  a  dead  letter  until  it  was  amended  in  1897. 
Since  then  a  good  deal  has  been  done  by  small,  but  success- 
ful, workingmen's  associations. 

(10)  Rumania,  1910. 

Large  tax  exemptions  in  favor  of  workingmen's  houses 
are  the  chief  feature  of  this  act. 

(11)  Switzerland. 

Switzerland  has  no  national  housing  law,  but  several 
cantons,  notably  Geneva,  have  shown  some  activity  under 
local  legislation. 

(12)  Luxemburg,  J 906. 

The  funds  of  the  savings  bank  are  loaned  to  communes, 
associations,  and  employers  for  housing  purposes. 

(13)  Chile,  1906. 

The  law  provides  for  a  system  of  local  housing  com- 
mittees with  power  to  carry  out  slum-clearance  schemes, 
encourage  housing  associations,  or  build  themselves.  The 
Caja  de  Credito  Hipotecario  is  authorized  to  lend  up  to 
75  per  cent  of  the  value  of  land  and  buildings,  and  the 
state  guarantees  6  per  cent  net  returns  for  twenty  years. 
The  Santiago  committee  showed  considerable  energy,  and 
in  191 1  had  two  workingmen's  suburbs  under  construction. 
(Oficina  de  Trabajo,  Habitaciones  Obreras  en  Chile  y 
Estranjero,  191 1.) 

(14)  Argentina. 

In  1913  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres  contracted  for  10,000 
workingmen's  cottages,  to  be  built  at  the  rate  of  2,000  a 
year.  The  Government  was  to  exempt  the  building  ma- 
terials for  them  from  import  duties.  (First  Annual 
Report,  Massachusetts  Homestead  Commission,  published 
1914,  p.  310.) 

(15)  Brazil,  1909. 

Companies  building  houses  for  workingmen  were  to 
enjoy  tax  exemption  for  fifteen  years,  exemption  from  duty 
on  building  materials,  and  in  some  cases  were  to  receive 
reclaimed  or  other  Government  land  free  of  charge.  They 
were  to  be  under  strict  Government  supervision.  (First 
Annual  Report,  Massachusetts  Homestead  Commission, 
P-3II.) 

(16)  Cuba,  1 9 10. 

An  appropriation  of  $1,300,000  was  made,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  building  2,000  laborers'  cottages,  to  be  sold  on 


small  monthly  installments.  Up  to  1914,  about  1,000  had 
been  built  in  Habana,  Pinar  del  Rio,  and  Santa  Clara 
provinces,  and  250  were  being  built  in  Santiago  province. 
(U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bulletin  No.  158;  this 
is  the  source  of  most  of  these  summaries,  except  as  other- 
wise stated.) 

C.  The  Self-Governing  British  Colonies. 

The  example  of  New  Zealand,  Australia,  and  Canada 
has  especial  value  for  us,  because  their  conditions,  material 
and  moral,  present  a  much  closer  parallel  to  our  own  than 
do  those  of  any  European  country.  Canada  has  the  addi- 
tional interest  attached  to  a  next-door  neighbor. 

Like  the  United  States,  and  even  more  so,  they  are  new 
countries,  sparsely  settled,  except  in  spots.  Their  cities 
are  new;  their  houses  are  new;  their  slums  are  new.  More 
than  is  true  of  us,  unfortunately,  their  interest  in  housing 
is  still  largely  preventive.  They  are  young,  optimistic, 
energetic,  and  intensely  democratic.  Australia  and  New 
Zealand  in  many  ways  represent  the  most  advanced  type 
of  social  democracy  as  yet  evolved.  They  are  the  paradise 
of  union  labor.  They  have — and  the  fact  is  not  without 
significance — the  lowest  death-rate  in  the  world. 

Inevitably,  their  housing  legislation  has  been  strongly 
influenced  by  that  of  the  mother  country,  but  inevitably, 
too,  they  have  worked  it  out  in  a  very  diflferent  way.  In 
countries  where  wages  and  standards  of  living  are  high 
and  the  working  population  virile  and  ambitious,  we 
should  expect  the  third  type  of  constructive  housing  legis- 
lation to  be  favored — Government  aid  to  the  individual 
workingman.  This  is  precisely  and  strikingly  what  has 
happened  in  New  Zealand  and  Australia.  The  develop- 
ment of  Canada  has  been  less  logical,  perhaps,  owing  to 
accidents  of  association. 

(i)  New  Zealand. 

The  typical  housing  law  of  New  Zealand  is  the  Advances 
to  Workers'  Act  of  1906  and  1913.  The  superintendent  of 
the  State  Advances  Office  is  authorized  to  lend  to  anyone 
employed  in  manual  or  clerical  work  with  an  income  of 
not  more  than  £200  per  annum  and  not  the  owner  of  any 
other  land  than  what  he  proposes  to  build  on.  The  sum 
advanced  is  not  to  exceed  £450,  or  the  value  of  the  dwelling 
to  be  built.  The  loan  is  to  be  repaid  in  a  period  of  thirty- 
six  years  or  less.  Application  may  be  made  at  any  post 
office.  The  postmaster  supplies  the  blank  and  gives  any 
desired  information  as  to  how  to  fill  it  out.  He  also  shows 
the  applicant  the  plans  and  estimates  of  eighteen  carefully 
selected  types  of  house.  Note  the  extreme  simplicity  of  the 
procedure  and  elimination  of  red  tape.  There  is  no  inter- 
mediary. It  is  as  easy  as  filling  out  a  money-order  blank. 
An  agent  from  the  nearest  valuation  office  makes  a  visit 
and  report,  and  for  this  service  the  applicant  pays  a  fee 
of  7s.  6d.  If  his  application  for  a  loan  is  granted,  all  his 
payments-are  made  through  his  post  office.  Five  per  cent 
interest  is  nominally  charged,  but  it  is  reduced  to  4>^  for 
prompt  payment. 

The  total  advances  to  workers  under  this  act  up  to 
March  31,  191 5,  were  £2,856,750 — a  large  sum  in  propor- 
tion to  the  population  of  New  Zealand. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  man  who  owns  no  land,  New  Zea- 
land has  the  Workers'  Dwellings  Act  (1905,  1910,  1914). 


75 


WHAT    IS    A    HOUSE? 


A  deposit  of  £io  is  all  the  capital  required.  The  house  is 
built  on  Government  land,  and  either  rented  or  sold  to  the 
tenant.  But  only  548  houses  have  been  built  under  this  act. 
The  cost  limit  for  the  house  and  five  acres  of  land  is  £750. 
The  income  limit  of  the  beneficiary,  under  the  latest  amend- 
ment, is  £175. 

(a)  Australia. 

The  five  Australian  provinces  have  housing  loan  laws 
similar,  in  a  general  way,  to  those  of  New  Zealand,  but  of 
later  date  and  developed  under  five  somewhat  varying 
forms.  Some  of  the  provinces  are  very  slow  in  getting  out 
their  annual  reports.  From  these  circumstances  results  the 
impossibility  of  giving  definite,  late,  general  figures.  It  is 
probable  that  the  aggregate  loans  of  the  five  provinces 
amount  by  now  to  a  figure  about  equal  to  the  loans  in 
New  Zealand. 

(3)  Canada.    * 

In  1913,  Ontario  and  Quebec  passed  housing  laws  per- 
mitting the  Government  to  guarantee  85  per  cent  of  the 
stock  of  approved  non-commercial  building  associations. 
Under  the  Ontario  act  the  Toronto  Housing  Company 
was  organized  and  has  put  up  a  million  dollars'  worth  of 
workingmen's  cottages  and  cottage  flats. 

Meanwhile  the  Canadian  Commission  of  Conservation 
decided  that  the  conservation  of  human  life  was  part  of 
their  duties  and  that  the  conservation  of  human  Hfe  was 
intimately  bound  up  with  housing  and  town  planning.  Just 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  in  191 4,  they  brought  over 
Thomas  Adams,  town  planning  expert  of  the  English  Local 
Government  Board,  to  be  their  adviser  in  these  subjects. 
The  war  has  necessarily  hampered  progress,  but  the  Com- 
mission is  proceeding  along  broad  constructive  lines.  A 
town  planning  act  has  been  drafted  and  introduced  in  the 
various  legislatures.  A  Civic  Improvement  League  for 
Canada,  with  local  branches,  has  been  started  as  an  educa- 
tional leaven,  to  prepare  the  way,  perhaps,  for  a  more  for- 
mal organization  on  the  lines  of  the  comites  de  patronage. 
The  time  is  not  felt  to  be  ripe  for  pushing  housing  legisla- 
tion, but  the  preliminary  steps  are  being  taken.  The  situa- 
tion is  not  altogether  unlike  that  of  Massachusetts  with 
its  Homestead  Commission  and  Town  Planning  Boards. 

III.  The  Applicability  of  Foreign  Experience 
to  the  United  States* 

The  following  statements  are  believed  to  be  fully  justi- 
fied by  undisputed  facts: 

I  The  housing  problems  of  foreign  countries  and  of 
the  United  States  are  similar.  Such  diflPerences  as 
exist  are  of  degree,  not  of  kind. 

1  A  distinct  improvement  in  the  housing  of  working- 
people  has  occurred  during  the  past  twenty-five  years 
in  England,  Belgium,  and  Germany,  and  more  recently 
in  other  countries  where  constructive  housing  legisla- 
tion is  in  force. 

3  Much  of  this  improvement  could  not  have  been 
brought  about  under  an  exclusive  system  of  restric- 
tive housing  legislation  and  private  initiative. 

"This  article  was  not  written  to  apply  to  a  war  condition,  and  the 
arguments  set  forth  are  intended  to  apply  in  normal  times.  Much  of 
this  material  is,  however,  directly  pertinent  to  the  present  lamentable 
situation. — ^The  Editor. 


A.  Objections  to  Constructive  Housing  Legislation 
FOR  THE  United  States. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  vital  question  to  which 
our  preliminary  study  has  been  leading:  Shall  we  have 
constructive  housing  legislation  in  the  United  States? 
The  conclusions  just  summarized  raise  a  presumption  in 
its  favor,  but  many  serious  objections  have  been  made. 
These  fall  into  five  groups — constitutional,  economic,  so- 
cial, philosophical,  and  pessimistic. 

(i)  The  constitutional  objection  has  several  aspects: 

{a)  It  is  claimed  that  we  cannot  have  a  national  hous- 
ing law  like  the  Belgian  law  or  the  British  Housing  of  the 
Working-Classes  Act. 

So  far  as  these  laws  are  concerned  with  restrictive  or 
mandatory  features,  this  is,  of  course,  true.  The  Federal 
Government  can  impose  no  housing  obligations  on  state 
or  local  authorities.  There  is  nothing,  however,  to  prevent 
a  federal  housing  loan  act,  even  as  we  already  have  the 
Federal  Farm  Loan  Act. 

{b)  It  is  claimed  that  to  undertake  housing  operations 
for  the  benefit  of  workingmen  would  be  class  legislation. 

It  is  possible  that  an  act  might  be  so  worded  as  to  lay 
itself  open  to  this  objection,  in  which  case  the  wording 
should  be  changed.  There  is  no  reason  per  se  why  provid- 
ing houses  at  cost  for  persons  whose  income  is  under  $800 
a  year  should  be  considered  class  legislation  in  an  objec- 
tionable sense  any  more  than  providing  schools  for  children 
or  hospitals  for  sick  people  is  so  considered. 

{c)  It  is  claimed  that  constructive  housing  activity  on 
the  part  of  the  state  would  be  an  unwarranted  extension 
of  the  police  power. 

That,  of  course,  is  a  matter  for  the  courts  to  settle. 
Constructive  housing  legislation  would  be  in  precisely  the 
same  position  as  minimum  wage  laws,  restrictions  of  hours 
of  work,  prohibition  of  night-work  for  women  and  children, 
and  a  long  list  of  modern  social  legislation.  Like  the  rest, 
it  will  be  sustained  just  so  long  and  so  far  as  its  advocates 
can  convince  the  courts  of  the  connection  between  it  and 
the  public  health. 

(a)  The  economic  objection  is  based  on  the  alleged  bur- 
den laid  upon  the  long-suflfering  taxpayer.  This  is  a  mis- 
conception, pure  and  simple.  A  properly  conducted  con- 
structive housing  scheme  is  exactly  self-supporting.  The 
credit  of  the  community  is  used  to  obtain  an  abundance  of 
capital  at  a  low  rate  of  interest. 

The  Irish  system  of  subsidy  from  the  rates  and  from  the 
imperial  exchequer  is  not  constructive  housing,  but  out- 
door poor  relief.  It  is  wholly  exceptional.  The  much-cited 
slum-clearance  schemes  are  not  housing  measures  at  all, 
but  health  measures.  And  such  affiliations  as  they  have 
are  much  closer  to  restrictive  than  to  constructive  housing 
measures. 

Sound  municipal  housing  enterprises  aim  to  come  out 
exactly  even,  with  neither  profit  nor  loss.  The  English  local 
authorities  come  very  near  to  doing  this  and  the  German 
authorities  do  it.  So  with  loans.  Commercial  profit  in 
money-lending  is  eliminated,  but  every  cent  of  principal 
and  interest  is  returned. 

(3)  The  social  objection,  the  pauperization  of  the  bene- 
ficiary, is  the  obverse  of  the  economic  and,  being  based  on 
the  same  misconception,  falls  to  the  ground  with  it.    The 


76 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


workingman  is  not  getting  something  for  nothing.  He  is 
getting  it  at  cost.  He  is  no  more  pauperized  by  such  a 
service  than  are  the  people  of  Cleveland  when  they  pay 
3  cents  instead  of  5  on  their  municipal  street-car  lines. 
The  writer  has  paid  47  cents  a  month  water-rates  in 
Washington,  D.  C.,  for  a  publicly  owned  and  maintained 
service,  and  $6  a  month  in  Berkeley,  Calif.,  to  a  private 
water  company,  but  is  conscious  of  no  corresponding 
fluctuations  in  self-respect. 

(4)  The  philosophic  objection  is  based  on  really  funda- 
mental theories.  Neither  the  individualist  nor  the  anar- 
chist can  be  expected  to  approve  of  constructive  housing 
legislation.  Both  object  to  any  extension  of  the  activities 
of  government.  Any  such  proposed  extension  is  sure  to  be 
labeled  socialistic  or  paternalistic.  In  this  respect,  con- 
structive housing  legislation  finds  itself  in  very  good  com- 
pany. The  whole  modern  program  of  social  legislation  is 
attacked  on  the  same  grounds. 

(5)  The  pessimistic  objection  is  that  based  on  the  alleged 
inefficiency  and  corruption  of  American  public  service.  In 
so  far  as  there  is  still  a  solid  basis  for  such  a  criticism  (and 
we  all  know  that  our  municipal  governments  especially 
have  been  wonderfully  improved  in  the  last  fifteen  years), 
it  should  be  a  reason  for  strenuous  efforts  to  improve  our 
public  service.  It  is  not  a  reason  for  limiting  the  sphere  of 
governmental  activity  unless  we  are  prepared  to  admit  the 
final  failure  of  American  democracy. 

B.  Best  Type  of  Constructive  Housing  Legislation. 
If  we  are  to   have   constructive   housing   legislation, 

what  type  shall  we  choose?  The  best  results  seem  to  have 
been  obtained  where  all  types  are  in  operation.  We  should 
certainly  encourage  the  three  positive  forms  of  Govern- 
ment aid  and  probably  the  negative,  but  we  should  keep 
clear  of  subsidies.  We  should  proceed  eclectically,  choosing 
the  best  where  we  find  it,  with  due  regard  to  our  local  needs, 
habits  of  thought,  and  body  of  existing  law. 

C.  Outline  of  a  Housing   Policy    for  the   United 

States. 

Any  plan  looking  to  the  solution  of  the  housing  problem 
in  the  United  States  must  include  both  restrictive  and 
constructive  housing  legislation. 

The  form  and  standards  of  restrictive  housing  legisla- 
tion have  been  very  carefully  worked  out  by  Mr.  Veiller 
in  his  Model  Housing  Law,  which  ought  to  be  adopted  by 
every  state  in  the  Union.  The  state  is  the  proper  unit. 
National  restrictive  housing  is  impossible,  and  local  legis- 
lation should  be  resorted  to,  only  pending  the  passage  of 
a  state  law,  or  to  impose  higher  standards. 

The  state  is  also  the  most  natural  unit  for  constructive 
housing  legislation.  But  the  nation  and  the  city  must  by 
no  means  be  ignored.     * 

(i )  The  National  Government  may  exercise  an  extremely 
important  function.  It  may  supply  or  facilitate  loans.  And 
through  the  power  to  make  conditions  for  the  assignment 
of  these  loans,  it  may  exert  a  strong  influence  on  local 
standards.  These  assignments  should  be  in  the  hands  of  a 
national  housing  and  town-planning  commission  under  the 
Department  of  Labor. 

Funds  might  be  made  available  in  various  ways: 

(a)  A  federal  housing  fund  could  be  created,  from  which 
loans  would  be  made. 


(if)  The  federal  land  banks  created  by  the  Federal 
Farm  Loan  Act  might  add  housing  loans  to  their  activities. 

(c)  Housing  loans,  under  certain  conditions,  might  be 
made  an  authorized  form  of  investment  for  trust  funds  and 
national  bank  deposits. 

(d)  The  investment  of  the  deposits  of  the  postal  sav- 
ings banks  in  housing  loans  might  be  authorized.  The  low 
rate  of  interest  paid  on  these  deposits  would  permit  loans 
to  be  made  at  a  low  rate,  and  the  obvious  appropriateness 
of  letting  the  people's  savings  be  used  for  the  people's 
advantage  is  very  appealing. 

Clearly  these  loans  would  be  permissive  under  the  last 
three  plans.  Only  under  the  first  could  the  housing  com- 
mission play  anything  more  than  an  advisory  role. 

(2)  The  state  should  have  a  system  of  local  housing  and 
town-planning  boards  under  a  state  board,  which  should 
administer  both  constructive  and  restrictive  housing  laws. 
The  state  might  guarantee  the  stock  of  approved  housing 
companies,  as  Ontario  does.  It  might  have  a  housing  fund 
raised  by  a  bond  issue.  Where  there  is  a  state  insurance 
fund,  it  should  be  available  for  housing  loans.  The  state 
should  loan  to  municipalities,  to  associations,  and  to  indi- 
vidual workingmen.  In  the  last  case  it  should  approximate 
as  nearly  as  possible  the  simplicity  of  the  New  Zealand 
procedure. 

The  writer  does  not  believe  it  would  be  generally  advis- 
able for  the  state  to  carry  on  direct  housing  enterprises  of 
its  own,  though  it  might,  for  educational  purposes,  make  an 
initial  demonstration,  as  the  Massachusetts  Homestead 
Commission  is  now  doing.* 

(3)  Some  cities  in  the  United  States  probably  have 
enough  financial  home  rule  to  bond  themselves  for  housing 
purposes  without  special  legislation.  Whether  the  courts 
would  sustain  such  action  cannot  be  told  till  it  is  tried. 
A  state  constructive  housing  law  should  contain  an  en- 
abling clause  to  cover  this,  but  the  approval  of  the  state 
housing  board  should  be  required. 

The  local  housing  and  town-planning  committees  should 
play  an  important  part — investigate  local  conditions, 
arouse  the  interest  of  the  community,  aid  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  restrictive  housing  law,  encourage  the  forma- 
tion of  non-commercial  building  associations,  help  them 
get  funds  and  select  the  best  plans,  perform  a  like  function 
for  individual  workingmen,  and  when  other  means  fail, 
stimulate  the  city  fathers  to  undertake  municipal  building. 

Does  all  this  seem  visionary  and  foreign  to  American 
traditions  ? 

Was  our  homestead  policy  un-American?  Under  the 
homestead  act  of  1862  more  than  85,000,000  acres  of  farm- 
land have  been  made  over  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment to  settlers.  It  was  bigger  and  more  far-reaching  than 
any  housing  scheme  while  it  lasted.  But  this  source  of 
relief  to  congestion  is  now  at  an  end.  This  open  door  ot 
opportunity  has  been  closed.  Is  it  not  time  we  looked  about 
us  for  a  substitute  and  studied  what  other  nations  have 
found  practical  and  helpful? 

Perhaps  the  best  contribution  the  United  States  has 
made  to  contemporary  civilization  is  our  public  school 

*An  appropriation  of  $50,000  was  made  for  this  purpose  by  the  leg- 
islature, in  1 91 7;  land  has  been  secured  in  the  outskirts  of  Lowell,  and 
building  is  in  progress. 


77 


WHAT    IS  A    HOUSE? 

system.    It  costs  something  over  half  a  billion  dollars  a  health  and  morals  more  fundamental  than  formal  educa- 

year  and  is  well  worth  it.  tion  can  ever  be?  And  if  a  community  has  not  the  energy 

Yet,  if  we  come  down  to  basic  realities,  if  it  is  a  question  and  resourcefulness  to  do  both,  should  it  not  make  sure 

between  the  mental,  moral,  and  physical  development  of  that  its  children   are  properly  housed  before  it  troubles 

the  people,  which  ought  to  take  precedence?    Are  not  about  their  book-learning? 


cidac^  6£u)a/i.<nt 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well  Hall,  Woolwich.  1915. 
Block  oj  Flats,  GRANBY  ROAD,  Class  IV. 


C/rcu.1  ic'  \S^oor^^^i 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works y 
JVestminster, 
London,  S.  fV. 


78 


GOVERNMENT  HOUSING  SCHEME 


WELL  H  ALL4  ELTHAM  ^  KLEN 


OFVtoRKS 

WESTMINSTtR 


WELL  HALL  is  only  one  of  the  British 
Government's  housing  operations.  It  is 
situated  about  a  mile  from  Woolwich  and 
is  a  complete  new  development.  It  consists  en- 
tirely of  permanent  dwellings  for  workmen. 
There  are  four  types  of  houses  of  from  two  to 
four  rooms  with  bath,  the  rentals  ranging  from 
seven  shillings  to  fifteen  shillings  and  sixpence  a 
week.  There  have  been  built  some  sixteen  hun- 
dred houses,  all  of  the  best  materials  available, 
and  the  design  has  preserved  the  traditions  of 
English  rural  life.  Mr.  Ewart  G.  Culpin,  Secre- 
tary of  the  International  Garden   Cities  and 


Town  Planning  Association,  whose  article  in 
the  April  Journal  dealt  with  the  application 
of  town-planning  principles  to  the  new  housing 
developments  of  England,  writes  that  he 
believes  Well  Hall  to  be  "easily  the  first  thing 
in  cottage  plans  and  elevations  for  the  whole 
world."  This  statement  is  perhaps  capable  of  a 
wrong  interpretation,  for  it  is  evident  that  the 
plans  would  not  suit  living  conditions  in  the 
United  States;  but,  from  the  point  of  view  of  a 
great  housing  undertaking  deliberately  under- 
taken by  a  Government  and  guided  by  experts 
to  yield   the  maximum  advantages  consistent 


79 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


XJ — 


© 


Q 


<S> 


GOVERNMENT  HOUSING  SCHEMl 


with  a  given  mode  of  life,  Well  Hall  is  undoubt- 
edly entitled  to  rank  where  Mr.  Culpin  places  it. 
Of  primary  importance  in  the  consideration 
of  the  underlying  reasons  which  led  to  the  build- 
ing of  Well  Hall  is  the  fact  that  in  spite  of 
urgent  necessity  it  was  decided  to  make  it  a 
permanent  enterprise  rather  than  a  merely 
temporary  one.  This  has  been  the  consistent 
policy  of  the  British  Government,  except  where 
urgence    made    it    impossible    to    wait    upon 


permanent  construction,  for  the  difference  in 
cost  between  permanent  and  temporary  work  is 
measured  by  a  small  margin,  and  it  was  decided 
that  it  would  be  folly  to  throw  away  money 
upon  makeshift  expedients.  Possibly  this  decis- 
ion was  also  influenced  by  the  knowledge  that 
nothing  is  harder  to  be  rid  of  than  a  temporary 
building.  We  believe  that  the  shacks  built  at 
the  time  of  the  flood  emergency  in  Galveston 
are  still  doing  duty  as  slums,  and  such  is  the 


80 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


^ 


(xouvofiooe  •u\nnci  kxm- PAiu.ouit- bedroom- scullcry-etc. 

f/fiST  fLOOfL         •  3  BED  ROOMS  ■  RATH  •  I/O 

C/KXJNO  FUyOR  ■  LIVING  ROOM  ■  PAKLOUft  •  SCUU-WV-  tTC. 
/■/Wr  FLOOK    ■  •  3  Bffi)  ROOMS  •  pATM  •  WC' 

CKOOND  rtooK-usntiC  k)om   sculuay  with  bath-  ctc. 
riRST  noon     -3  bed  rooms-  wc- 


OHOUIVD  FLOOR 
riRST  FLOOR 


■  UyiNG   ROOM     SCyLLtRV    WITH   BATH  ECT    «  BtD  ROQAAS . 


'WELL  HALL^ELTHAM-^  KENTfj 


TvPCFTO 

QF  \CORJ<;< 

•\rESTMlNSTE 


usual  experience  with  temporary  buildings.  In 
cases  where  the  British  Government  could  not 
spare  the  time  necessary  to  build  permanently, 
huts  of  a  temporary  or  semi-temporary  charac- 
ter were  constructed,  either  of  concrete  slabs  or 
wooden  framing.  These  were  three  in  type  and, 
as  built  at  East  Riggs,  another  important  housing 
development,  are  illustrated  and  described  in 
this  book. 


In  addition  to  these  purely  housing  opera- 
tions, the  Government  has  erected  stores,  halls, 
and  other  public  buildings  necessary  for  a  good- 
sized  town;  in  one  case  there  were  provided 
bakeries,  a  central  kitchen,  laundry,  schools, 
churches,  and  all  the  usual  accessories  of  com- 
munity life. 


8i 


Cj-ruxu*9  .cALoary^Zait,. 


Government  Housing  Scheme, 
Well*  Hall,  Woolwich.  191 5. 
Group  facing  WELL  HALL  and  CONGREVE  ROADS,  ist  and  2nd  Class. 


H.  M.  Office  of  Works, 
Westminster^ 
London,  S.  W. 


82 


TYPS     YMr,^.r>. 


J^CK  tLEVATIOM 


tW»ElI^A..^^R 


.1 


Gp'JNJ^fLGDilLA'J. 


fl^ST  flGD^kAM. 


Mimrriy  or  Miwkt^v  >t.S. 

HouMMO  StCTIOVJ 

Mm  »Y.Xci  'twz/tti^i* 


inil.D.''«vi«o 


GROUND    n-OOR  PLAN.       J< 

Class  3.     Permanent  Cottages 


Eastriggs 

AN    INDUSTRIAL   TOWN    BUILT    BY   THE    BRITISH    GOVERNMENT 


EASTRIGGS  is  another  of  the  British 
Government's  housing  operations  and  of 
quite  a  different  character  from  Well 
Hall,  illustrated  and  described  in  the  September 
Journal.  Whereas  Well  Hall  consists  entirely 
of  permanent  dwelling  houses,  Eastriggs  con- 
sists also  of  temporary  and  semi-temporary 
huts,  permanent  cottage  shells  temporarily  con- 
nected and  used  as  hostels,  and  temporary 
hostels  of  various  sizes.  Altogether,  the  build- 
ings are  of  four  classes:  (i)  Huts,  (2)  cottage 
shells  used  as  hostels,  (3)  completed  cottages 
and  staff  houses,  (4)  shops,  schools,  churches, 
recreation  buildings,  and  other  accessories  of  a 
small  town. 
The  huts  of  Class  i  include  all  buildings  of 


temporary  or  semi-temporary  character,  built 
of  concrete  in  blocks  or  slabs  and  wooden  fram- 
ing covered  with  stucco  or  weather-boarding  on 
the  outside  and  lined  with  wallboard  or  asbes- 
tos sheets  on  the  inside.  These  huts  are  of 
three  types:  (I)  Pairs  of  semi-detached  family 
huts  each  having  three  bedrooms,  living-room, 
scullery,  bath,  and  other  accessories.  (II)  Small 
hostels  containing  ten  beds,  which  may  be  used 
for  single  lodgers  or  for  a  family  taking  in  lodg- 
ers. These  are  readily  converted  into  Type  I 
and  are- very  popular,  being  used  by  operatives, 
members  of  the  staff,  and  often  as  larger  houses 
by  officials  of  higher  grade.  (Ill)  Large  hostels 
in  which  about  100  single  men  or  women  may  be 
lodged,  either  in  open  dormitories  or  in  dormi- 


83 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


fEniai«~uMt  G-H 
Class  4.     Public  Hall  at  Eastriggs 


KouOMO  , 

Maw  tf  fctOOMOa  »'*..<•.». 


tories  fitted  with  cubicles.  Inability  to  fix 
hours  or  prescribe  the  character  of  occupancy 
soon  developed  great  objection  to  the  use  of 
these  large  hostels,  and  many  of  them  are  today 
only  partially  occupied,  even  in  the  face  of 
serious  congestion  in  the  locality. 

Cottage  shells  temporarily  used  as  hostels, 
Class  2,  can  easily  be  converted  into  perma- 
nent family  cottages.  These  were  adopted  be- 
cause it  was  found  that  the  cost  of  temporary 
buildings  as  described  under  Class  i  was,  after 
taking  into  account  the  necessary  expenditures 
for  water-supply,  drainage,  and  road-work,  so 
little  less  than  that  for  permanent  buildings 
that  it  was  poor  economy  to  erect  temporary 
houses  except  only  where  urgence  of  the  short 
time  available  demanded  it. 

These  hostels  usually  consist  of  groups  of 
three  blocks  of  four  cottages  each,  the  blocks 
being  connected  with  temporary  corridors  and 
arranged  either  in  a  row  or  around  three  sides 
of  a  quadrangle. 


The  completed  cottages  and  houses.  Class  3, 
are  quite  similar  in  plan  and  construction  to 
those  of  Well  Hall,  which  are  illustrated  in 
this  pamphlet. 

Under  Class  4  are  included  such  buildings, 
outside  of  actual  houses  and  dormitories,  as 
may  be  needed  for  the  life  of  a  community 
center.  These  were  built  as  part  of  the  housing 
scheme  where  the  adjacent  already  existing 
town  did  not  conveniently  provide  them.  In 
this  class  are  included  not  only  schools,  churches, 
and  recreation  buildings,  but  shops,  bakeries, 
laundries,  and  central  kitchens. 

It  is  very  interesting  to  note  that  even  the 
most  temporary  of  the  Eastriggs  buildings, 
although  they  are  simpler  in  design,  will 
compare  very  favorably  in  construction  with 
permanent  small  houses  of  the  cottage  and 
bungalow  type  in  this  country  and  are  even 
better  than  many  of  these. 


84 


V 


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V   .Jh      <L)      ^ 

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♦J    >    C    ^    00 

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C  O  C  3  *f 
O  ^    rt    U    3 

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tS^  bfl  o  c  2 
o  "C  -C  ~*   "U 

U     en    c/)    1>    U 

O-.S  W    en  -rt 

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O    >•  S  .!3  J> 

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g  *j  tj  w 
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(/)  u«    ■ 

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■"     CO     O        .     S 

CO  rt  oj  «*  t; 

«    1,   *^  iS    » 


>.T3    O    "«    *- 
n    ^     — 


C  -C 


.<  c   2:   H 


«  «r  §  13  5 
*5h  S'^ 


PLAN  OF  THE  DEVELOPMENT  AT  GRETNA 

All  of  the  buildings,  such  as  cottages,  school,  police  station,  churches,  cinema  house,  institute,  shops,  post  office,  public 
hall,  hospital,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  plan  are  of  a  permanent  character  and  form  a  nucleus  of  the  town  which  may  in  the 
future  develop  over  the  area  now  occupied  by  temporary  hostels 


86 


GROUMD    FUDOR  PLAJvl 


FIRST    FLOC5R   PLA^^4 


J    "^"^^^^j^ 


Hoot  tt^ATO 


cQ. 


ftjT  ftODL  llAJf 


pEOmfD  \IGDL  TLAH 


< 


COTTAGES 

87 


i 


%\ 


c^J^oo'//p  f/.(poe  /1/rry. 


JUUSE. 


'jjfc'ff. 


I 


rou^D/^T/o/r  Pi/=\n. 


5cAiXAr  pi  1 1 1  f  1  I  i  1 1 


HOUSE  AT  MIDDLE  WARD— LANARK 

The  one-story  house  was  very  generally  used  in  Scotland,  and  the  effect  obtained  in  the  small  communities  where 
this  type  prevailed  was  quite  charming.  In  many  of  these,  by  the  very  ingenious  use  of  concrete  blocks  and  concrete 
slabs,  a  minimum  of  material  was  used.   (Note  the  thickness  of  walls  on  the  plan.) 


^ 


H 
CD 
H 

P-H 

H 


'Qi  i  r       I  i  I  '  I  > 


-T^ 


itr.-.-~.--5^*-^-— -^ 
I 


v_^ 


To  o>n;tr<  or  Ma«  w/«it. 


1  C       i  -4 
_ Ar.z^r^^3^^-^ 


GRETNA— INSTITUTE 

This  building,  together  with  the  Public  Hall  at  Gretna,  serves  as  the  axis  around  which  the  social  activities  of  the 
community  revolve.  The  central  hall  with  its  stage  is  constantly  in  use  for  entertainments  of  various  sorts  and  for 
dancing.  The  first  floor  in  general  serves  as  a  club  for  the  men,  while  the  second  floor  is  a  club  for  women.  This  build- 
ing represents  a  new  idea  introduced  into  the  social  life  of  British  industrial  communities,  and  its  effect  upon  the 
employees  is  watched  with  a  great  deal  of  interest  throughout  Great  Britain. 


90 


•  maur  clcnation 


•BACK   ELCVATloKr 


CKovNp  rxooe   plam  •  -  vppre    ttjooe  plan 


51  DC   CLTVATION 


-  CROSS    SECTION 


q«4frHtf F 


■P F T P- 


LOCAL  <sov  •  pcae; 


COTTAGES 


SlCMOi  Ah 


91 


rRONT     ELEVATION 


GROVHD     FLOOR  PLAN  • 


VPPCfZ.    rtOOiZ.  PLAN 


GROUND  nOGR  TV^J 


FIRST  RCCR  PWVvl 

COTTAGES 

91 


HALF  RDOFPU^ 


Housing  by  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 


IN  1 91 2  the  Homestead  Commission  recommended 
that  the  uncalled-for  savings-bank  deposits  in  the 
state  treasury  be  used  for  an  experiment  in  housing. 
Such  use  was  found  to  be  unconstitutional.  The 
Commission  was  then  influential  in  securing  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution,  ratified  by  the  people  of  the 
Commonwealth  on  November  2,  191 5,  providing  that 
"The  General  Court  shall  have  power  to  authorize  the 
Commonwealth  to  take  land  and  to  hold,  improve,  sub- 
divide, build  upon,  and  sell  the  same,  for  the  purpose  of 
relieving  congestion  of  population  and  providing  homes  for 
citizens;  provided,  however,  that  this  amendment  shall  not 
be  deemed  to  authorize  the  sale  of  such  land  or  buildings 
at  less  than  the  cost  thereof." 

The  Commission  then  renewed  its  recommendation  for 
an  appropriation,  asking  the  Legislature  for  $50,000. 
The  bill  was  defeated,  but  on  the  following  year  the  sum 
was  granted,  and  the  Commission  proceeded  to  apply  it  to 
a  practical  experiment  in  housing.  The  act  follows: 

An  Act  to  Authorize  the  Homestead  Commission  to 
Provide  Homesteads  for  Citizens 

Section  i.  The  Homestead  Commission  is  hereby  authorized,  by 
and  with  the  consent  of  the  Governor  and  Council,  to  take  or  purchase, 
in  behalf  of  and  in  the  name  of  the  Commonwealth,  a  tract  or  tracts  of 
land,  for  the  purpose  of  providing  homesteads,  or  small  houses  and 
plots_ of  ground,  for  mechanics,  laborers,  wage-earners,  or  other  citizens 
of  this  Commonwealth;  and  may  hold,  improve,  subdivide,  build  upon, 
sell,  repurchase,  manage,  and  care  for  said  tract  or  tracts  and  the  build- 
ings constructed  thereon,  in  accordance  with  such  terms  and  conditions 
as  may  be  determined  upon  by  the  Commission. 

Section  a.  The  Commission  may  sell  said  tract  or  tracts  or  any  por- 
tions thereof,  with  or  without  buildings  thereon,  for  cash,  or  upon  such 
installments,  terms,  and  contracts,  and  subject  to  such  restrictions  and 


conditions,  as  may  be  determined  upon  by  the  Homestead  Commission; 
but  no  tract  of  land  shall  be  sold  for  less  than  its  cost,  including  the  cost 
of  any  buildings  thereon.  All  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  land  and  build- 
ings or  other  source  shall  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  Common- 
wealth. 

Section  3.  The  Homestead  Commission  is  hereby  authorized  to 
expend  not  to  exceed  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose  of 
this  act. 

Section  4.  This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  passage. 

The  principal  considerations  actuating  the  Commission 
to  an  experiment  in  housing  were  stated  in  their  fourth 
annual  report  as  follows: 

"There  are  not  enough  wholesome  low-cost  dwellings. 

"There  is  no  prospect  that  present  methods  will  ever 
supply  enough  unless  the  state  encourages  their  construc- 
tion. 

"Therefore  the  state  should  experiment  to  learn  whether 
it  is  possible  to  build  wholesome  dwellings  within  the  means 
of  low-paid  workers." 

The  Commission  contemplated  three  kinds  of  housing 
development — the  urban,  suburban,  and  rural.  For  the 
first  type,  houses  were  to  be  detached  or  semi-detached, 
with  about  5,000  square  feet  of  land  each,  and  were  to  be 
within  easy  walking  distance  of  the  mill  or  other  place  of 
employment. 

The  second  type  houses  were  to  be  detached,  each  house 
occupying  a  lot  varying  from  3^  to  >^  an  acre,  and  the 
tract  of  land  to  be  within  a  5-cent  car-ride  of  the  mills. 

The  third  type  were  to  be  farm  cottages,  on  lots  vary- 
ing from  y2  acre  to  5  acres. 

The  first  experiment  was  with  Type  i.  The  Commission 
found  abundant  unoccupied  land  in  the  cities  visited — 
Boston,  Lawrence,  New  Bedford,  Fall  River,  Lowell,  and 


94 


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WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


others,  at  prices  ranging  from  ^45  to  I400  or  more  per  acre. 
The  tract  of  land  finally  chosen  was  in  the  heart  of  Lowell, 
a  city  of  low-paid  operatives.  In  working  out  plans  for 
houses,  the  minimum  accommodation  advisable  was  be- 
lieved to  be  as  follows: 

Living-room,  kitchen,  three  bedrooms,  closets,  cellar. 

Cooking,  heating,  lighting,  washing,  toilet,  and  bath- 
ing facilities. 

Provision  for  drainage,  sewage-  and  garbage-disposal. 

There  need  not  be  a  heating  system,  but  provision 
should  be  made  for  stoves,  other  than  cooking-range,  in 
places  needed,  and  construction  may  well  allow  for  a 
future  heating  system.  The  structure  should  be  made  as 
fire-resisting  as  possible  with  due  consideration  for  cost. 
In  order  to  bring  the  cost  to  the  extreme  low  limit,  it  was 
deemed  feasible  to  combine  living-room  and  kitchen,  and 
provide  a  parlor  on  the  first  floor  suitable  for  use  as  the 
third  bedroom  if  the  family  was  large. 

The  sizes  of  rooms  appear  to  correspond  with  the 
standard  sizes  recommended  by  housing  authorities,  with 
the  exception  of  the  height.  Here  7  feet  6  inches  has  been  fixed 
for  the  first  story,  and  7  feet  4  inches  for  the  second.  It 
is  very  difficult  to  establish  a  standard  of  height  by  rules 
of  logic,  and  so  the  architects  have  followed  custom  and 
allowed  themselves  to  be  guided  by  a  sense  of  proportion. 
Small  rooms  appear  more  commodious  if  they  are  low- 
studded,  and  the  relation  of  height  to  lateral  dimensions  is 
pleasanter.  The  number  of  stairs  to  be  climbed  is  less,  and 
there  is  a  substantial  saving  in  the  cost  of  the  house.  Add 
to  this  the  desirability  of  low  lines  on  the  exterior,  and  the 
absence  of  any  particular  disadvantage  to  offset  these  many 
advantages,  and  the  change  from  housing  standards  seems 
justified. 

The  equipment  provided  included  a  kitchen-cabinet, 
sink  and  drain-board  with  shelves  under,  set  tub,  drain  for 
refrigerator,  bathroom  with  three  fixtures,  hot  and  cold 
water  piped  to  sink  and  tub,  bathtub  and  bowl,  thimbles 
in  the  chimney  for  kitchen  range  and  additional  stoves,  a 
register  in  the  kitchen  ceiling  opening  into  the  bathroom 
floor,  and  closet-space  for  each  bedroom. 

Provision  for  hanging  clothes  in  the  bedrooms  can  be 
made  by  means  of  a  closet  or  by  a  recess.  The  latter  oflFers 
the  same  amount  of  space,  but  is  not  enclosed,  and  so  is 
not  likely  to  become  a  catchall.  If  the  housekeeper  is  neat, 
she  can  put  up  a  curtain  across  the  opening.  If  she  is 
untidy,  the  clothes  will  at  least  be  subjected  to  the  cleans- 
ing influence  of  light  and  air. 

In  addition  to  the  above  equipment,  the  houses  are  all 
piped  for  a  gas-range  in  the  kitchen,  and  are  provided  with 
electric  lights  throughout.  Each  house  has  a  cellar  the  full 
area  of  the  house,  with  carefully  pointed  walls  and  cement 
floor.  Where  possible,  the  back  door  opens  upon  the  land- 
ing of  the  cellar  stairs,  so  that  the  cellar  can  be  easily  and 
directly  entered  from  the  garden. 

When  minimum-sized  houses  are  sold  to  operatives,  it 
is  not  treating  the  owner  generously  to  make  these  houses 
difficult  of  alteration.  They  should  be  so  designed  as  to 
permit  additions  to  be  made  easily  and  without  ruining 
the  appearance  of  the  house.  From  this  point  of  view 
wood  has  advantages  over  masonry. 

The  Commission  is  experimenting  with  bungalows  in 
which  by  a  simple  mechanical  device,  it  is  an  easy  matter 


to  raise  the  roof  and  add  a  second  story,  or  to  detach  an 
end  wall  and  extend  the  house  laterally. 

The  cost  of  these  houses  represents  actual  war-time 
conditions.  The  first  houses  were  started  in  October,  1917, 
and  other  bids  have  been  taken  during  January  and  Feb- 
ruary, 1 91 8.  The  bids  used  were  not  exceptionally  below 
the  others;  in  fact,  bids  from  two  or  three  contractors  were 
received  which  could  have  been  utilized  without  injuring 
the  financial  projects  of  the  undertaking,  and  the  present 
contractor  has  expressed  a  willingness  to  build  further 
houses  at  the  same  cost,  showing  that  the  undertaking  has 
not  been  a  losing  venture  on  his  part. 

The  method  of  sale  proposed  provides  for  a  first  pay- 
ment of  probably  about  10  per  cent,  followed  by  succes- 
sive monthly  payments  which  will  be  the  equivalent  of 
interest  plus  a  small  amount  on  account  of  capital.  By 
this  plan  the  house  is  entirely  paid  for  within  a  number  of 
years,  varying  with  the  ability  of  the  purchaser,  but  in  no 
case  more  than  twenty-eight  years. 

Massachusetts,  with  its  admirable  system  of  coopera- 
tive banks,  provides  an  easy  method  for  immediate  owner- 
ship by  the  home-seeker.  Deeds  will  be  passed  when  pay- 
ments amount  to  ao  per  cent  of  the  sale  value.  The  Com- 
mission proposes  to  sell  the  property  subject  to  certain 
restrictions.  Under  ordinary  process  of  law,  such  property 
would  fall  within  the  scope  of  city  laws  and  regulations  as 
soon  as  sold  by  the  state.  It  would  then  be  part  and  parcel 
of  the  city  and  might,  perhaps,  be  handled  in  such  a  way  as  , 
to  sacrifice  some  of  the  benefits  intended  by  the  state.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  series  of  restrictions  in  addition  may  deter 
the  would-be  purchaser.  Such  a  list,  drawn  up  in  legal 
terms,  would  very  likely  deter  the  ordinary  man  and  would 
require  careful  explanation. 

Another  way  of  securing  better  neighborhood  conditions 
in  new  housing  developments  is  to  provide  a  neighborhood 
center,  or  common  building,  where  matters  involving 
general  neighborhood  interest  can  be  discussed,  and  where 
good  fellowship  can  find  a  comfortable  atmosphere  in 
which  to  grow. 

The  Commission  plans  to  follow  the  growth  of  its 
"colony,"  to  assist  in  preparing  the  gardens,  in  matters  of 
canning,  cooking,  and  housekeeping,  so  that  those  who 
live  in  the  new  houses  may  be  helped  to  a  better  mode  of 
living  and  may  act  as  disciples  in  spreading  their  ideas 
among  others. 

This  spirit  of  common  responsibility  for  the  com- 
munity welfare  and  of  neighborhood  goodfellowship  may 
provide  a  better  means  of  safeguarding  the  homes  against 
bad  conditions  than  a  category  of  legal  restrictions.  Where 
a  positive  impulse  is  aroused,  instead  of  a  prohibition  im- 
posed, better  results  may  be  expected. 

In  the  Homestead  Commission's  project  there  is  no 
trace  of  paternalism  or  of  charity.  The  act  under  which  it 
is  operating  prohibits  the  sale  of  homesteads  at  less  than 
cost.  The  object  of  the  Commission  has  not  been  to  supply 
the  houses  needed  for  the  citizens  of  the  Commonwealth, 
but  to  show  that  good  houses  can  be  supplied,  and  supplied 
within  reach  of  the  wage-earner.  The  Commission  has 
hoped  that  when  the  results  of  its  experiment  were  seen, 
private  capital  would  be  reassured  and  would  enter  the 
field  of  low-cost  housing  development. 

Walter  H.  Kilham. 


97 


MINISTRY  or  MUNITIONS . 
GlXNQXteNOCK  MO05IN0  SCHEMD. 

Plak  or  LAY  OUT  or  oroOND. 


i— 4tiiiifiMir 


'C 


GLENGARNOCK— PLAN 


About  Glasgow  there  are  numerous  small  housing  developments  of  which  this  is  an 

excellent  example.    These  undertakings  were  all  in  the  hands 

of  the  Local  Government  Board  of  Scotland 


Small-House  Reconstruction  in  France* 


IF  THE  attention  of  those  interested  in  hous- 
ing in  the  United  States  has  been  almost 
entirely  concentrated  on  the  housing  under- 
takings of  the  British  Government,  it  must  not 
be  thought  that  France  and  Belgium  are  not 
deeply  concerned  with  their  own  problems.  In 
the  former,  nothing  but  plans  are  now  possible, 
but  these  are  being  studied  in  the  broadest 
way,  and  there  need  be  no  fears  but  that  the 
reconstruction  of  Belgium  will  proceed  along 
lines  informed  with  the  lessons  of  the  past.  It 
is  perhaps  worthy  of  chronicling  the  fact  that 
extensive  studies  for  the  rehabilitation  of  Bel- 
gium have  already  been  made  by  the  German 
authorities,  and  the  preliminary  proposals,  at 
least  in  part,  have  been  issued  in  printed  form. 
But  the  world  will  still  have  something  to  say 
about  this ! 

In  France,  the  loss  of  the  iron  and  coal  areas 
resulted  in  a  temporary  industrial  depression, 
with  a  consequent  expansion  in  England,  where 
the  burden  of  war  production  fell  with  com- 
pelling force.    Thus  the  French  were  not  faced 

*From  the  French  of  Henri  Lavedan  in  "L'lllustration." 


with  any  such  housing  problems  as  arose  in 
England.  The  restoration  and  expansion  of  the 
war-making  industries  in  France  was  a  gradual 
process  permitting  readjustments  which  were 
not  possible  in  England,  nor,  as  experience  has 
so  painfully  demonstrated,  in  this  country. 

Much  temporary  reconstruction  work  has 
been  done  in  France  where  there  developed  the 
imperative  necessity  of  rehabilitating  the  recon- 
quered areas  which  had  been  devastated  by  the 
enemy.  But  the  future  will  require  an  immense 
amount  of  study  and  a  vast  expenditure.  To 
the  excited  few  in  the  United  States  who  have 
so  mistakingly  assumed  that  the  problem  of 
reconstructing  France  was  one  that  should  be 
left  to  its  lovers  in  this  country,  there  may 
eventually  come  a  perception  of  the  fact  that 
France,  architecturally,  is  able  to  care  for  her 
own  interests.  The  illustrations  which  accom- 
pany this  article  are  in  themselves  the  best  of 
evidence  as  to  whether  the  authorities  and  the 
architects  of  France  are  capable  of  approaching 
their  problem  in  the  proper  spirit,  and  if  further 
testimony  were  needed,  perhaps  it  may  be  found 


98 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


in  the  appreciation  by  M.  Henri  Lavedan,  a 
translation  of  which  should  be  given  the  widest 
circulation  possible.  In  it  there  dwells  a  per- 
ception of  the  housing  problem  which  is  so 
illuminating  and  so  revealing — so  profoundly 
touching  in  its  humanity,  so  inspiring  in  its 
delicate  message  to  those  who  face  this  question 
in  other  lands — that  it  might  almost  be  said  to 
constitute  the  basis  of  the  human  and  the  esthe- 
tic approach  to  the  home.  Other  factors  enter 
in,  as  we  know,  but  it  is  only  through  an  intelli- 
gent blending  of  all  the  various  phases  that 
there  will  be  laid  the  foundations  of  a  stable 
national  life — if  we  admit  that  this  must,  in 
all  cases,  be  founded  and  maintained  upon  the 
home.  There  need  be  no  fear  but  that  we  may 
look  hopefully  to  France  for  a  contribution 
worthy  of  her  great  sacrifices,  her  noble  intelli- 
gence, and  her  will  to  live.  The  article  by  M. 
Lavedan,  to  which  we  refer,  is  as  follows: 

Since  the  commencement  of  this  year  191 8,  when  there 
was  affirmed  with  so  much  energy  the  confidence,  the 
hope,  and  the  faith  of  French  hearts,  there  has  been 
accomplished,  quite  apropos,  a  vivid  demonstration  of  our 
will  to  live  and  to  prepare  without  delay  for  the  imme- 
diate future. 

As  is  well  known,  a  competition*  was  held  "for  the 
reconstruction  of  the  rural  habitations  in  the  liberated 
regions,"  and  the  Museum  of  Decorative  Arts  exhibited  in 
its  rooms,  until  the  first  day  of  February,  the  drawings, 
chosen  from  very  many,  that  were  deemed  worthy  of 
special  mention  and  of  possible  adoption  as  the  types  of 
architecture  appropriate  to  the  regions,  to  the  circum- 
stances, and  to  the  necessities  of  the  future. 

The  exposition  is  both  the  proof  and  the  fruit  of  a 
unanimous  motive,  of  a  touching  and  scholarly  effort. 
We  do  not  doubt,  however,  that  the  public  went  there, 
influenced  not  only  by  a  sympathetic  curiosity  but  by  that 
active  desire  and  by  that  generous  impulse  which  impels  us, 
each  in  our  sphere  and  according  to  our  abilities,  to 
compete  in  the  great  work  of  general  reestablishment,  of 
universal  reconstruction.  It  can  be  well  said  that,  without 
active  participation,  we  shall  contribute  nevertheless  to 
the  success  of  the  common  enterprise  by  the  cordial  inter- 
est which  we  shall  have  shown.  We  shall  contribute  our 
foundational  stones,  invisible  and  real.  In  these  questions, 
the  warmth  of  public  opinion  is  precious  and  of  a  com- 
municative strength  that  nothing  equals.  It  alone  can 
create  the  torrent  of  zeal  that  goes  straight  to  the  goal  and 
carries  away  all  the  obstacles. 

The  first  impression  of  this  exhibition,  which  is  not  once 
changed  during  the  length  of  the  visit,  is  instantly  com- 
plete. The  eyes  and  the  spirit  find  in  it  their  charm  and 
their  profit.  I  well  know  that  the  majority  of  those  who 
passed  through  to  look  at  these  drawings  preoccupied  them- 

*In  the  preliminary  competition  there  were  1,498  entrants;  in  the 
final,  there  were  340,  of  whom  270  were  soldiers. 


selves  less  perhaps  with  their  practical  value  and  the  con 
veniences  that  they  offer  than  with  their  picturesque 
exterior  and  the  bewitching  aspect  that  they  present.  No 
matter.  It  is  not  necessary  to  possess  technique  in  order  to 
understand  the  very  special  conditions  that  the  program 
demands,  and  the  way,  so  often  fortunate,  in  which,  in 
diflferent  degrees  it  has  been  studied,  grasped,  and  visual- 
ized by  all  the  competitors. 

It  was  not  a  question,  indeed,  of  considering  the  rebuild- 
ing of  amusement  resorts  or  the  country  villas  of  the  middle 
class.  These,  without  doubt,  have  known  as  much  as  the 
others  the  destructive  rage  of  the  invader,  and  the  moment 
will  also  come  to  determine  to  rebuild  them  in  the  same 
spirit  of  local  and  reasoned  adaptation,  the  source  of  in- 
spiration of  all  the  good  workers  of  the  rebuilding  renais- 
sance. But  the  first  to  be  considered  was  the  most  urgent 
— the  primary  and  indispensable  requirements  of  exist- 
ence. The  necessities  of  nourishment,  of  cultivation,  of 
manual  labor,  the  discipline  and  conditions  of  life  itself 
clearly  indicated  and  limited  the  immense  work. 

Bread  made  necessary  the  oven,  and  flour,  the  mill.  The 
fields,  no  sooner  cleansed  and  put  back  to  a  normal  state, 
would  demand  the  farm  buildings;  and  everything  de- 
pending on  the  sun  and  the  earth,  both  beasts  and  people, 
would  desire  the  roof  and  its  shelter.  The  first  scheme  was 
thus  naturally  indicated.  The  inn,  the  bakery,  the  caf6, 
the  smith's  forge,  and,  above  everything,  the  houses  of  the 
peasant,  of  the  farmer,  of  the  rural  worker;  such  were  the 
humble  and  sovereign  edifices  to  be  first  erected,  the  pillar 
and  support  that  should  be  determined  and  placed,  the 
nucleus  around  which  would  group  themselves  afterward, 
little  by  little,  in  the  near  and  far-distant  future,  the  dif- 
ferent and  successive  elements  of  the  resurrected  village. 
What  task  more  important  than  the  careful  and  studied 
reformation  of  all  these  cells,  broken  and  obliterated! 
What  noble  attraction,  what  magnificent  stimulus  did  the 
difficulties  themselves  present!  No!  That  was  not  an 
ordinary  competition,  one  of  those  cold  and  common  tests 
that  concern  but  the  hand  and  the  intellect  and  leave  the 
heart  a  stranger.  It  has  been  absolutely  necessary  in  this 
case,  that,  in  order  to  succeed,  the  heart  should  aid  the 
mind  and  direct  the  hand. 

All  of  these  drawings,  the  best  as  well  as  those  that  do 
not  attain  perfection,  nevertheless  permit  to  appear 
clearly  the  tender  thoughts  of  their  authors.  In  addition 
to  their  remarkable  merit,  they  are  the  stirring  acts  of 
patriotic  piety.  One  may  perceive  the  leaven  of  the  most 
exquisite  solicitude  at  the  same  time  that  one  is  surprised 
at  a  kind  of  divination  with  which  a  number  have  under- 
stood and  penetrated  the  character  and  spirit  of  the  dis- 
trict to  be  restored.  Neither  mistake  in  taste  nor  mistake 
in  tact.  Nowhere  does  one  find  any  sentimental  heresy. 

I  admired  at  every  instant  this  comprehension,  so 
unerring  and  so  correct.  "Why,"  said  I  to  myself,  "it 
seems  that  these  young  architects  never  lived  anywhere  but 
in  the  country  and  in  that  part  of  the  country  which  is  the 
object  of  their  study !"  And  it  is  also  an  object  for  inquiry, 
when  one  sees  the  precision,  the  confidence  with  which  some 
have  placed  and  distributed  the  farm  buildings,  whether 
formerly  they  have  not  been  innkeepers  and  agriculturists. 

No,  that  was  not  necessary.  It  was  sufficient  for  them, 
knowing  their  trade,  to  be  soldiers,  to  have  seen  and 


99 


WHAT  IS  A  HOUSE? 


experienced  the  ravages  of  war.  The  sight  of  the  ruins  was 
in  itself  capable  of  suggesting  to  their  intelligence,  moved  to 
pity,  the  most  suitable  way  to  reconstruct.  They  have 
learned  "on  the  job"  that  the  new  habitation  can  not  be 
well  erected  except  by  considering,  respectfully,  the  ruins. 
A  great  number  of  these  young  men  are  in  the  army.  Their 
ideas  were  conceived  in  the  trenches,  under  canvas,  within 
sound  of  the  cannonade.  In  order  to  germinate,  their 
ideas,  like  seeds,  had  to  be  put  first  in  the  earth,  in  the 
bottom  of  the  hole  dug  for  them.  Being  in  the  foundation 
ditches,  they  placed  the  piers.  The  air,  earth,  and  climate 
of  the  regions  where,  in  a  close  intimacy,  they  were  forced 
to  prolong  their  sojourn,  informed  and  impregnated  them 
until  they  were  native  to  the  locality.  In  working  at  the 
resurrection  of  the  particular  corner  of  France,  destroyed 
beneath  their  gaze,  they  obeyed  with  fervor  a  sentiment  of 
individual  and  filial  gratitude.  This  is  the  reason  why  the 
plans  were  conceived  and  executed  in  a  will  so  expressive 
of  duty  and  love. 

It  is  impossible  to  mention  all  the  names  of  those  who 
have  devoted  themselves  to  the  work  of  salvation,  but  per- 
mit me,  however,  to  draw  special  attention  to  M.  Pierre 
Sardou,  government  architect,  who  no  longer  can  count  his 
successes.  In  the  army  since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  he 
obtained  first  prize  for  his  "House  of  a  Rural  Property 
Owner."  How  charming  and  practical  it  is,  this  modest 
and  solid  home,  all  on  one  floor,  with  its  wall  in  natural 
stone  color  and  its  brown  roofs.  Tied  to  the  past  by  cer- 
tain motifs,  sober  in  line,  of  a  good,  frank  rusticity,  hos- 
pitable and  well  protected,  it  constitutes  on  the  side  of  the 
road  of  life  the  ideal  shelter  of  peace,  of  labor,  of  repose, 
as  well  made  for  living  therein  a  long  time  as  for  there 
dying  in  the  calm  and  the  satisfaction  of  a  beautiful 
evening. 

Mr.  Bonnier,  an  aviator,  also  winner  of  one  of  the  first 
prizes,  has  found  time  between  flights  to  realize  the 
captivating  idea  of  Flemish  farm  buildings,  of  which  the 
very  finished  model  gives  us  a  delicious  impression.  With 
its  roofs  loaded  with  snow  and  its  little  windows  lighted  in 
the  night,  it  looks  Hke  the  setting  of  a  Christmas  tale.  And, 
really,  in  the  most  profound  meaning  of  the  word,  does 
it  not  concern  the  human  and  national  nativity?  And  the 
habitation  of  the  blacksmith,  as  the  likeness  is  engraved  by 
M.  Pierre  Patout,  treated  in  old  timber  work,  is  of  the  most 
cordial  and  ample  attraction.  What  a  magnificent  fram- 
ing of  this  robust  shed  in  the  style  of  an  ancient  market- 
house  !  At  the  very  sight  of  it  one  hears  the  song  of  the 
hammer,  and  the  perfume  of  the  scorched  hoof  rises  in 
the  air.  Many  others,  who  will  excuse  me,  should  be 
noticed.  All,  in  designing  houses,  created  poems,  ballads 
of  the  new  era,  in  which  occur  reminiscences  of  the  past- 
Yet  adapted,  with  a  light  touch,  to  modern  formulas, 


they  have  gathered  and  continued  the  traditions  of  the 
old  provincial  architecture,  and  this  religious  anxiety 
that  guided  them  lends  to  the  ensemble  of  their  researches 
a  ravishing  harmony,  a  family  resemblance. 

And  it  is  also  a  song  of  action  and  grace,  which  under  a 
serene  sky,  among  reborn  orchards,  over  the  breathing 
village,  declaims  the  cheerful  and  youthful  house,  with  roofs 
mounting  to  happiness.  Oh,  the  touching  promise  of  the 
Alsatian  chimneys,  columns  having  for  bushy  capitals  the 
nest  of  storks !  Thus  the  ruin,  alas,  when  forgotten,  seems 
already  to  belong  to  ancient  history.  The  stones  of 
mutilated  France  have  changed  their  voices.  Yesterday 
they  were  weeping,  today  they  sing. 

But  on  the  day,  when  to  the  repatriated  will  finally  be 
given  over  the  pleasant  and  fair  dwellings  newly  adorned, 
how  necessary  it  will  be  that  those  who  there  take  up  their 
abode  shall  endeavor  to  feel  their  charm  and  their  moral 
value,  all  that  they  hold  of  devotion,  of  sacrifice,  of  righty 
all  the  loving  attention  and  anxious  maintenance  which 
they  demand.  These  are  sanctified  houses,  uncommon, 
beautiful,  and  it  will  be  an  impiety  to  allow  them  to  decay 
and  deteriorate.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  care  for  them, 
in  order  that  all  the  good  artists,  who  conceived  them  and 
off^ered  them  to  their  native  land  in  so  fine  a  spirit,  may  not 
in  the  future  have  heavy  hearts,  finding  them  vilified, 
misunderstood,  and  soiled.  A  great  and  useful  education  to 
undertake,  and  one  which  will  forge  to  the  front  as  one  of 
the  pressing  needs  of  tomorrow. 

This  vast  and  compelling  question  of  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  our  devastated  provinces  is  an  inexhaustible  thing. 
The  depth  of  its  perspectives  extends  in  every  direction. 
I  have  only  been  able,  to  my  great  regret,  to  put  down  in 
passing  some  reflections  on  morality,  and,  forced  to  ter- 
minate, I  perceive  that  I  have  said  almost  nothing.  For- 
tunately, others  better  prepared  and  instructed,  of  a  more 
scholarly  technique,  and  prepared  by  conscientious  study, 
have  set  forth  and  treated  in  all  its  aspects  the  problem  that 
in  this  article  overwhelms  me.  I  can  do  nothing  better  in 
concluding  than  to  recommend  to  those  of  my  readers 
desirous  to  inform  themselves  more  fully  the  excellent  work 
that,  under  the  significant  title,  *"The  Homes  of  France," 
has  just  been  published  by  M.  Leandre  Vaillat,  apostle 
of  this  fundamental  thought — each  locality^its  character- 
istic house.  He  was  one  of  the  first  and  devoted  organizers 
of  the  great  movement  of  which  we  can  appreciate  today 
the  precious  results.  Composed  of  serious  studies  so  favor- 
ably mentioned  in  "Le  Temps,"  the  book,  written  by  a 
learned  and  refined  artist  and  a  charming  writer,  is  the  most 
agreeable  and  scholarly  labor  consecrated  to  this  great 
work. 

*The  text  and  illustrations  of  this  work  were  published  in  the 
Journal  of  August,  1917. 


100 


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Buildings  of  a  Medium-sized  Farm  in  Meuse:    Details  and  Perspective  of  the  Group  (M.  Paul  Tissier) 


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^H 

^^H^^^^^B 

Farm  of  Twenty-five  Hectares  in  Pas-de-Calais  (M.  Sirvin) 


103 


Farm  Buildings  in  Meuse:    Longitudinal  Section  of  the  Buildings  Arranged  in  the  Depth  of  the  Lot  (M.  Leprince-Ringuet) 


Small  Farm  Building  in  the  Vosges  (M.  Vidal) 


104 


House  of  a  Cabinet  Worker  in  Alsace  (M.  Eschbaecher)  House  of  a  Locksmith  in  Alsace  with  Details  (M.  Dory) 


Farm  Buildings  in  Picardy  (M.  Guidetti) 


105 


u 


a 
if  \ 

z 
o 

o 

q; 


House  of  a  Locksmith  in  Artois  (M.  Despeyroux) 


Baker's  House  in  Meurthe-et-Moselle  (M.  Bois) 


Farm  Buildings  in  Artois:    Elevation  on  the  Courtyard  (M.  Mulard) 


io8 


APPENDIX 


The  New  York  City  Tenement  House  Law 


Those  who  have  known  the  actual  results  of  the  New 
York  Tenement  House  Law  know  how  true  the  distinc- 
tion is  between  restrictive  and  constructive  measures  in 
housing  legislation  yet  some  of  us  have  lived  in  constant  fear 
lest  the  praise  of  our  restrictive  law  might  induce  other 
communities  to  adopt  it  textually.  To  be  sure,  many  large 
communities  are  practically  without  any  legislation  which 
restrains  the  speculative  builder.  For  such  communities 
there  is  need  of  immediate  legislative  action,  but  there  must 
be  careful  consideration  of  these  less  desirable  effects  of 
the  New  York  law  to  which  reference  is  rarely  made. 

No  one  will  deny  that  the  "new  law"  houses  in  New 
York  are  better  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view  than  those 
built  under  the  old  law.  No  one  will  deny  that  the  law 
has  been  fairly  and  equitably  administered.  Its  weakness 
lies,  however,  in  the  obvious  fact  that  it  is  not  a  constructive 
[housing  law,  that  it  is  restrictive  not  only  as  against  bad 
housing,  but  restrictive  in  a  great  measure  as  against  prog- 
ress in  housing  design.  It  is  a  law  which  specifies  too 
definitely  what  shall  be  done  and  how  it  shall  be  done,  in- 
stead of  limiting  itself  absolutely  to  a  statement  of  what 
is  to  be  accomplished  in  the  way  of  light  and  air  and 
sanitary  conveniences.  It  is  probably  true  that  its  passage 
was  a  great  achievement,  perhaps  the  best  law  that  could 
have  been  secured  at  that  time,  but  it  made  no  provision 
for  progress  in  tenement  design.  Many  of  those  who  have 
built  houses  under  the  New  York  law  can  cite  examples  of 
betterments  in  design  that  would  willingly  have  been  made 
but  which  could  not  be  made  because  of  certain  definite 
requirements  of  the  law.  Frequently  the  authorities  have 
acknowledged  that  certain  proposed  features  were  better 
than  those  which  the  law  required,  but  these  could  not  be 
allowed  because  the  law  is  mandatory  and  there  is  no 
appeal;  changes  can  be  made  only  by  the  Legislature. 


The  New  York  law  has  resulted,  in  a  great  measure,  in 
facilitating  the  work  of  the  man  who,  without  any  idea 
other  than  profit  making,  designs  and  builds  along  the 
lines  of  least  resistance,  adopts  one  of  two  or  three  stand- 
ard, utterly  stupid,  types  that  can  "get  away  with  it" 
with  the  least  possible  expense  and  the  maximum  com- 
pression. As  one  young  architect,  who  still  has  ideas  and 
ideals,  put  it  recently,  "When  I  go  down  to  the  Tenement 
House  Department  with  a  plan  like  this,  the  examiners 
say,  'Oh,  for  goodness'  sake,  what  are  you  going  to  do  next? 
Why  don't  you  make  plans  like  all  the  other  fellows? 
You  make  a  lot  of  trouble  with  your  original  schemes.'  " 
There  is  no  question  there  as  to  whether  or  not  the  pro- 
posed scheme  will  afford  better  housing,  but  only  as  to 
whether  it  is  in  conformity  with  a  type  that  has  been 
evolved  from  the  law. 

The  word  of  warning  then  is  this:  By  all  means 
"constructive"  housing  legislation,  but  in  so  far  as  "re- 
strictive" legislation  is  necessary,  do  not  copy  the  New 
York  law.  Visit  New  York,  ask  those  who  know  its  nega- 
tive effects  (they  will  not  deny  its  positive  virtues),  see 
the  Bronx  and  certain  parts  of  Manhattan  with  miles  upon 
miles  of  utterly  stupid  blocks  of  prison-like  cells  badly 
built,  and  observe  the  undesirable  degree  of  congestion 
produced  by  those  who  build  up  to  the  limit  of  what  is 
permitted  by  the  law. 

Some  of  us  think  we  know  what  is  needed  to  relieve  a 
situation  which  is  the  result  of  our  inelastic  law  joined  to 
the  profiteers'  cupidity,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  into 
these  details  now.  It  seemed  important,  however,  to  re- 
call the  New  York  situation,  as  some  of  us  see  it,  so  that 
it  may  be  known  to  those  who  read  Miss  Wood's  valuable 
contribution  to  "The  Housing  Problem  in  War  and  in 
Peace."  Robert  D.  Kohn. 


The  Need  of  Town-Planning  Legislation  and  Procedure 
for  Control  of  Land  as  a  Factor  in  House-Building 
Development 


By  THOMAS  ADAMS 
Town-Planning  Advisor,  Osmmission  of  Conservation  of  Canada 


THE  use  of  the  term  "town  planning"  in  connection 
with  legislation  dealing  with  the  planning  and 
development  of  rural  and  urban  land  has  led  to  con- 
fusion and  misunderstanding.  What  is  called  "town 
planning"  is  intended  by  statute  to  mean  urban  and  rural 
planning  and  development.  The  British  act,  which  is  the 
precedent  of  legislation  of  this  character,  is,  in  some  re- 
spects, more  applicable  to  rural  than  to  urban  areas  and, 
although  its  general  object  is  to  secure  amenity,  proper 
sanitary  provisions  and  convenience  in  connection  with 


the  laying  out  of  land  for  building  purposes,  its  operation 
is  largely  restricted  to  land  that  has  not  been  built  upon. 
Hence,  it  chiefly  applies  to  suburban,  semi-rural,  and  rural 
land  "likely  to  be  used  for  building  purposes,"  and  not  to 
the  remodeling  of  portions  of  towns  already  built  upon. 

Planning  in  Britain 

A  considerable  proportion  of  town-planning  schemes  in 
England  are  being  prepared  by  rural  district  councils,  and 


109 


WHAT    IS    A    HOUSE? 


most  of  the  land  included  in  all  the  schemes  being  pre- 
pared is  rural  in  character. 

In  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  English  schemes  are 
being  prepared  by  municipal  surveyors  or  engineers,  and 
comparatively  little  expense  is  being  incurred  in  connec- 
tion with  their  preparation.  For  instance,  the  Ruislip- 
Northwood  scheme  deals  with  an  area  of  over  5,900  acres, 
of  which  only  437  acres  were  "in  course  of  development" 
in  1913.  The  cost  of  preparing  a  scheme  for  development 
for  this  area,  in  anticipation  of  the  growth  for  the  next 
fifty  or  one  hundred  years,  was  only  $5,000.  The  ultimate 
estimated  cost  of  carrying  out  the  scheme,  namely  $1 50,000, 
will  be  spread  over  the  period  during  which  the  scheme  is 
being  carried  out  and  as  assessable  land  value  increases. 
It  may  reasonably  "be  claimed  that  the  Ruislip-Northwood 
council  has,  as  a  result  of  the  preparation  of  this  scheme, 
laid  the  foundation  for  future  development  which  will 
insure  health,  convenience,  and  amenity  for  the  com- 
munity, which  could  not  have  been  obtained  by  any  other 
method  except  at  prohibitive  cost. 

The  work  being  done  by  the  Conference  on  Arterial 
Roads  in  Greater  London,  which  has  been  at  work  for  the 
past  three  years,  is  an  indication  of  the  importance  attached 
to  the  subject  of  planning  and  development  in  England. 
The  conference  comprises  representatives  of  137  local 
authorities.  It  has  been  holding  frequent  meetings,  with  a 
view  to  determining  the  best  lines  of  development,  par- 
ticularly in  regard  to  the  means  of  communication  by  road, 
for  an  area  of  1,000  square  miles  within  and  surrounding 
the  county  of  London.  The  greater  part  of  this  territory 
is  rural  in  character.  Many  separate  municipalities  are 
preparing  schemes  for  their  area,  but  they  are  combining 
together  in  conference  to  secure  a  general  plan  for  their 
arterial  system  of  highways.  The  fact  that  they  have  been 
able  to  join  together  and  present  united  decisions  to  the 
president  of  the  Local  Government  Board  of  England 
shows  the  value  of  the  services  of  the  Local  Government 
Board  in  securing  effective  cooperation.  If  it  is  possible 
for  so  many  authorities  to  combine,  surely  it  should  be 
practicable  for  the  comparatively  few  who  are  usually 
concerned  in  the  control  of  suburban  areas  adjacent  to 
large  cities  in  America. 

In  Britain  less  confusion  is  caused  by  the  use  of  the 
term  town  planning,  because  of  the  broader  meaning  given 
to  the  word  town,  and  because  a  greater  proportion  of  the 
rural  territory  is  urban  in  character.  The  need  for  some 
change  in  the  British  Town  Planning  Act,  in  order  that 
it  may  be  made  more  adaptable  to  rural  areas,  is,  however, 
being  recognized  by  the  British  authorities.  Mr.  Henry 
Aldridge,  in  his  book,  "The  Case  for  Town  Planning," 
argues  that  the  Act  of  1909  should  be  amended  to  enable 
rural  councils  to  prepare  a  rural  planning  scheme  with  the 
minimum  of  work  and  a  maximum  of  practical  efficiency. 
The  draft  of  the  Planning  and  Development  Act  of  the 
Commission  of  Conservation  of  Canada  makes  provision  for 
the  preparation  of  simple  rural  planning  (development) 
schemes  in  a  form  which  could  be  made  adaptable  to 
British  conditions. 

Planning  Not  an  End  in  Itself 

It  has  to  be  recognized  that  a  mere  plan  will  not  do 
anything  to  conserve  life  or  secure  industrial  efficiency. 


The  plan  is  only  the  basis  on  which  a  scheme  may  be  made 
to  control  development  of  land.  A  plan  may  be  prepared 
on  paper,  but  no  better  result  secured  than  if  it  had  been 
omitted,  because  the  thing  that  really  matters  is  the  de- 
velopment that  follows.  Planning  is  not  an  end,  but  only 
a  means  to  an  end;  it  is  only  part  of  an  instrument  to  guide 
development,  and  is  of  no  value  unless  it  guides  it  aright. 
It  is  important  that  the  emphasis  should  be  placed  on 
the  character  of  the  development  to  be  achieved  under  a 
scheme  and  not  on  the  preparation  of  a  plan,  hence  the 
use  of  the  term  "planning  and  development"  instead  of 
"town  planning."  The  change  in  terminology  is  not,  how- 
ever, solely  due  to  ambiguity  of  previous  terms.  It  arises 
solely  from  the  fact  that  the  same  principles  which  are 
proving  successful  in  regard  to  the  organization  of  town  life 
must  be  applied  to  rural  life.  In  other  words,  the  scope  of 
planning  and  development  cannot  in  practice  be  limited 
to  urban  development  if  it  is  to  achieve  its  general  object 
of  securing  health,  efficiency,  convenience,  and  amenity. 

Need  of  Legislation 

Before  proper  development  schemes  can  be  made,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  legislation  passed;  first,  for  the  purpose 
of  enabling  municipal  authorities  to  prepare  schemes  for 
their  areas,  and,  second,  for  setting  up  the  provincial 
machinery  necessary  to  control  development  in  unorgan- 
ized territory.  Such  an  act  has  to  make  provision  for 
securing  effective  cooperation  between  the  state,  the 
municipality,  and  the  owners  of  land,  and  for  determining 
the  procedure  necessary  in  connection  with  the  prepara- 
tion and  making  of  schemes. 

Among  the  reasons  why  new  legislation  is  necessary  is 
the  fact  that  proper  development  cannot  be  carried  out 
withou  t  some  more  scientific  method  in  which  provision  shall 
be  made  for  the  exercise  of  reasonable  discretion.  Develop- 
ment schemes  in  their  very  nature  have  to  deal  with  sepa- 
rate, and  sometimes  opposing,  interests,  including  those 
of  the  general  public  and  private  owners.  It  is  an  essential 
feature  of  planning  and  development  legislation  that  it 
should  provide  for  effective  cooperation  between  the 
public  authorities  and  the  private  owners,  and  also  between 
adjacent  municipal  authorities.  It  is  therefore  necessary 
to  have  a  skilled  department  of  the  state  government  to 
act  as  a  sort  of  court  of  appeal  in  regard  to  differences 
which  are  bound  to  arise  between  interested  parties  and 
conflicting  or  cooperating  authorities. 

Boundaries  of  Development  Schemes 

It  may  not  be  practicable  in  some  cases  to  prepare 
development  schemes  within  the  arbitrary  boundaries  of 
one  municipal  area.  For  topographical  and  other  reasons 
one  local  authority  may  desire  to  include  part  of  an  area 
of  another  local  authority  in  its  scheme.  In  England  it  has 
been  recognized  that  arbitrary  municipal  boundaries  must 
not  influence  the  boundaries  of  town-planning  schemes. 
The  city  of  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  has  obtained  author- 
ity from  the  legislature  to  prepare  a  scheme  for  an  area  of 
about  20,000  acres,  of  which  about  half  is  outside  the  city 
limits.  No  objection  was  raised  to  the  inclusion  of  the 
outside  territory  in  the  area  of  the  scheme  by  the  local 
authorities  concerned,  and  only  one  objection  was  raised 
by  an  owner. 


no 


WHAT    IS    A    HOUSE? 


The  Census  Bureau  of  the  United  States,  in  its  latest 
census,  has  shown  that  the  arbitrary  boundaries  of  cities 
were  little  heeded  by  the  growth  of  population,  industry, 
or  development  generally.  Because  of  this  it  is  necessary 
that  planning  and  development  schemes  should  embrace 
a  much  larger  area  than  is  covered  by  the  administrative 
unit  of  the  city  or  town,  but  if  the  rural  municipality  does 
its  duty  and  prepares  schemes  for  the  urban  parts  of  its 
area,  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  the  city  or  town  to 
encroach  on  the  territory  outside  its  boundaries.  The 
development  of  the  agricultural  areas  adjacent  to  the  city 
should  be  considered  in  relation  to  the  development  in 
these  suburban  schemes. 

Why  Rural  and  Urban  Development  Should  Be 
Dealt  with  in  One  Measure 

Prima  facie  it  would  seem  as  if  the  proper  way  to  control 
rural  and  urban  development  would  be  either  to  have  two 
acts — rnamely,  a  rural  development  act  and  an  urban 
development  act — or  to  have  one  act  so  framed  as  to  en- 
able urban  schemes  to  be  prepared  for  urban  areas  and 
rural  schemes  to  be  prepared  for  rural  areas.  In  practice, 
however,  this  would  not  work  out  satisfactorily,  owing  to 
the  absence  of  any  clear  division  line  between  urban  and 
rural  territory  and  between  urban  and  rural  conditions. 
Moreover,  to  suggest  a  division  of  this  kind  would  be  to 
emphasize  a  distinction  between  the  two  kinds  of  areas 
and  their  problems  which  does  not  exist,  although  it  has 
erroneously  been  assumed  to  exist  and  has  been  fostered^ 
by  many  whose  one-sided  experience  has  blinded  them  to 
the  interdependence  of  urban  and  rural  life.  Not  only  is 
there  no  sharp  division-line  between  town  and  country 
under  modern  conditions,  and  no  certainty  that  what  is 
isolated  rural  territory  today  may  not  become  the  site  of 
a  town  tomorrow,  but  the  arbitrary  divisions  between 
urban  and  rural  municipal  areas  are  such  that  the  conditions 
and  problems  on  both  sides  of  a  boundary  line  between  such 
areas  may  be  precisely  the  same. 

The  only  satisfactory  method,  even  if  it  be  somewhat 
defective,  is  to  have  an  act  which  will  regulate  all  new 
settlement  and  development  in  all  kinds  of  urban  and  rural 
areas.  This  is,  of  course,  a  sharp  distinction  between  the 
problems  that  have  to  be  dealt  with  in  areas  which  are 
fully  built  up  with  substantial  and  more  or  less  permanent 
improvements,  like  those  in  the  central  parts  of  large  cities, 
and  other  problems  in  suburban  areas  where  the  land  is 
either  unbuilt  upon  or  is  only  in  process  of  being  developed. 
Land  which  is  fully  built  upon  and  served  by  improved 
streets  which  cannot  be  altered  or  replanned,  except  at 
great  cost  for  reconstruction,  is  not  suitable  for  inclusion 
in  the  area  of  a  development  scheme.  Even  if  the  plan- 
ning of  such  land  has  been  hopelessly  bad  and  the  streets 
have  proved  to  be  too  narrow  and  are  intersected  by 
dangerous  railway  crossings,  it  is  hardly  practicable  to 
remodel  them  by  a  development  scheme  dealing  with 
large  areas  of  land.  The  act  and  the  development  schemes 
prepared  under  it,  intended  to  deal  with  both  urban  and 
rural  conditions,  will  contain  provisions  which  are  appli- 
cable to  urban  and  inapplicable  to  rural  territory,  and 
vice  versa.  But  there  can  be  no  objection  to  this,  since  if 
any  provision  is  inapplicable,  no  person  or  interest  can  be 
injured  thereby.    For  instance,  if  a  scheme  provided  for 


control  of  building-lines,  i.  e.,  the  distance  of  setback  from 
the  highway  boundary  in  a  district  where  no  buildings 
were  likely  to  be  erected,  this  would  not  be  a  burden  on 
the  farmer,  since  it  would  not  force  or  accelerate  build- 
ing development  but  merely  provide  for  its  regulation  if 
and  when  it  took  place.  If  no  building  took  place,  the  pro- 
vision would  remain  inoperative.  On  the  other  hand,  no 
person  or  government  can  forsee  where  building  is  going 
to  take  place,  or  where  a  town-site  is  going  to  be  laid  out. 
Restrictions  which  are  necessary  to  regulate  development 
where  it  is  occurring  may,  without  injury  to  anyone,  be 
made  to  apply,  even  where  development  is  unlikely  to 
occur.  If  such  regulations  are  to  be  effective,  they  must 
deal  with  the  possibility  and  not  with  the  fact. 

The  Principal  Contents  of  Development  Schemes 
in  Rural  Areas 

Practically  anything  connected  with  the  development  of 
land  can  be  included  in  a  development  scheme  under  a 
planning  and  development  act.  Only  by  this  means  can 
development  be  planned  comprehensively  and  its  various 
parts  be  considered  in  relation  to  each  other  at  the  same 
time.  Even  those  matters  which  are  the  subject  of  general 
statutes  or  by-laws  should  be  premitted  to  be  varied  by  the 
provisions  of  a  scheme.  This  is  an  additional  reason  why 
the  final  approval  of  the  scheme  must  rest  with  the  pro- 
vincial authority.  The  following  outline  gives  an  indica- 
tion of  some  of  the  matters  which  may  be  dealt  with: 

{a)  Fixing  varied  widths  of  streets  and  roads;  altering 
or  closing  existing  highways;  determining  building-lines 
or  setbacks  of  buildings  according  to  a  comprehensive 
scheme  for  a  large  area.  The  relationship  between  the 
street  and  the  character  and  density  of  the  buildings  to 
be  erected  upon  it  should  be  taken  into  account. 

{b)  Reserving  land  for  new  main  thoroughfares. 

{c)  Limiting  the  number  of  dwelling  houses  to  be  erected 
per  acre  and  prescribing  the  amount  of  any  lot  which  may 
be  built  upon  in  order  to  ensure  ample  light  and  air  for  all 
buildings  and  healthy  housing  conditions. 

{d)  Prescribing  zones  in  urban  parts  of  rural  areas 
within  which  to  regulate  different  degrees  of  density  and 
height  of  buildings,  according  to  local  conditions. 

{e)  Classifying  land  for  use  for  residential  purposes, 
factories,  agriculture,  timber  reserves,  etc.,  and  adjusting 
the  system  of  taxation  and  the  system  of  planning  and 
constructing  local  improvements  to  suit  the  kind  of  de- 
velopment permitted  under  the  scheme,  to  encourage  the 
economic  use  of  the  land,  and  to  lessen  injurious  specula- 
tion. Under  a  scheme,  land  could  be  permanently  dedi- 
cated for  agricultural  purposes  and  assessed  at  its  value 
for  that  purpose  to  the  advantage  of  the  public  and  owners 
alike. 

Every  scheme  can  be  prepared  to  deal  with  local  con- 
ditions on  their  merits  under  any  skilled  advice  that  may 
be  employed  with  the  advantage  of  any  local  experience. 

To  be  successful,  planning  and  development  schemes 
have  to  be  flexible.  One  of  their  advantages  is  that  they 
dispense  with  the  necessity  of  stereotyped  by-laws.  Cer- 
tain general  principles,  such  as  the  amount  of  space  that 
must  be  reserved  around  buildings  of  different  kinds,  or 
the  width  of  main   arterial   thoroughfares,   have   to   be 


III 


WHAT   IS   A   HOUSE? 


definitely  settled,  but  matter  of  detail  affecting  individual 
properties  can  be  made  subject  to  variation. 

One  of  the  purposes  of  such  schemes  should  be  to  trans- 
fer a  larger  portion  of  the  burden  of  making  local  improve- 
ments to  the  owners  of  real  estate  who  benefit  from  these 
improvements.  Among  other  matters  which  might  be 
dealt  with  in  rural  land  development  schemes  are: 

Cancellation  and  replanning  of  subdivisions. 

Provision  of  private  and  public  open  spaces  for  rec- 
reation. 

Preservation  of  objects  of  historic  interest  or  natural 
beauty. 

Planning  of  sewerage,  drainage,  and  sewage-dis- 
posal, lighting  and  water-supply  systems  in 
advance. 

Extension  of  variation  of  private  rights-of-way  and 
other  easements. 

Planning  of  community  centers  and  educational 
institutes. 

Protection  of  rural  districts  from  noxious  industries 
and  ugly  hoardings. 

It  is  only  when  these  matters  are  dealt  with  in  a  scheme 
that  effective  control  of  land  development  can  be  secured 
on  economical  lines.  When  attempts  are  made  to  get 
improvements  carried  out  in  respect  of  individual  proper- 


ties, such  as  the  simple  matters  of  fixing  a  building-line  or 
diverting  a  road,  much  opposition  has  to  be  faced,  or  com- 
pensation paid,  because  the  owner  is  being  asked  to  give 
up  something  to  comply  with  a  requirement  which  affects 
his  property  only.  He  has  to  get  compensation,  not 
necessarily  because  he  is  injured,  but  because  he  is  asked 
to  confer  a  benefit  upon  the  community  which  other 
owners  are  not  asked  to  confer.  In  a  development  scheme 
the  requirements  of  local  authorities  are  made  general 
throughout  its  area,  and,  in  practice,  what  have  appeared 
to  be  revolutionary  proposals  have  met  with  little  oppo- 
sition. 

In  certain  schemes  owners  have  granted  free  large  areas 
of  land  for  recreation  purposes  and  for  widening  roads, 
without  cost  to  the  community  and  without  loss  to  the 
donors.  The  fact  that  the  latter  contribute,  under  this 
plan,  to  a  general  scheme  of  development  has  meant  in 
such  cases  that  the  balance  of  their  property  was  increased 
in  value  as  a  result  of  contribution  to  the  scheme. 

The  reader  who  is  not  familiar  with  the  working  of 
planning  and  development  legislation  will  probably  find 
many  questions  arise  in  his  mind  regarding  the  feasibility 
and  benefit  of  the  proposals  referred  to  in  the  above  out- 
line; but  experience  in  the  working  of  such  legislation 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  the  only  sound  and  effec- 
tive way  to  control  the  development  of  land. 


II 


IT  IS  obvious  that  the  adoption  of  the  most  perfect 
system  of  planning  and  development  of  land  will  not 
do  more  than  provide  the  right  foundation  on  which 
to  build  up  a  solution  by  a  slow  and  gradual  process. 
In  the  degree  in  which  that  foundation  is  well  laid,  the 
ultimate  social  structure  will  be  the  more  stable,  and  will 
be  the  more  capable  of  adjustment  to  suit  altered  con- 
ditions from  time  to  time  as  development  proceeds;  while, 
obversely,  in  the  degree  in  which  the  foundation  is  badly 
laid  the  structure  will  be  proportionately  weak,  and  it 
will  become  the  more  difficult  to  go  back  to  the  beginning 
and  remedy  fundamental  defects.  Success  can  be  attained 
only  by  using  skill  and  exercising  patience  and  vigil- 
ance in  dealing  with  the  problem  in  a  scientific  way. 
Attempts  to  reach  a  solution  by  short  cuts  and  quick 
results,  as  in  the  past,  can  end  only  in  failure. 

General  Considerations  Involved 

As  a  means  of  Ending  and  applying  the  needed  remedies, 
it  seems  necessary  that  several  lines  of  activity  should  be 
pursued  simultaneously.  These  include: 

(a)  The  improving  of  national,  state  and  local  govern- 
ment organization  in  connection  with  all  matters  relating 
to  land  development. 

(^)  The  making  of  a  comprehensive  investigation  and 
survey  of  present  conditions,  and  the  preparing  of  detailed 
topographical  maps  and  reports  on  rural  conditions. 

(c)  The  adopting  of  some  system  of  planning  all  land 
for  purposes  of  health,  convenience  and  economic  use,  and 
the  securing  of  adequate  planning  and  development 
legislation  and  its  effective  administration  by  the  govern- 
ing authorities. 


(d)  The  creating  of  agricultural  and  industrial  settle- 
ments, free  of  artificial  pressure  and  on  sound  economic 
lines. 

(e)  The  formulating  of  a  definite  policy  in  regard  to 
readjustment  of  social  and  industrial  conditions  after  the 
war,  particularly  in  relation  to  the  problem  of  returned 
soldiers. 

General  recommendations  in  regard  to  each  of  these 
matters  are  set  out  below. 

Government  Organization 

The  Federal  and  state  government  legislation  and 
machinery  for  dealing  with  the  control  of  the  planning, 
settlement  and  development  of  land,  should  be  extended 
and  improved. 

There  should  be  closer  cooperation  than  hitherto  be- 
tween Federal,  state  and  municipal  governments,  and  be- 
tween different  branches  of  the  public  service,  in  regard  to 
all  matters  dealing  with  land. 

The  surveying  branches  of  the  governments  should  be 
strengthened  and  more  comprehensive  surveying  work 
assigned  to  them. 

A  complete  and  coordinated  system  of  Federal,  state 
and  municipal  administration  of  land  resources  should  be 
devised,  with  the  whole  organization  centralized  in  a  depart- 
ment or  permanent  commission  of  the  Federal  Government. 

The  operations  of  venders  of  real  estate  should  be 
regulated,  so  as  to  prevent  misrepresentation  and  other 
immoral  practices  in  connection  with  the  sale  of  land,  and 
all  real-estate  operators  should  be  licensed  by  govern- 
ments under  safeguards  designed  to  prevent  improper 
dealing  in  land. 


112 


WHAT    IS   A   HOUSE? 


State  governments  should  consider  their  systems  of 
administering  highways,  municipal  affairs  and  public 
health,  with  special  regard  to  the  need  of  securing  more 
cooperation  and  efficiency  in  connection  with  land  and 
municipal  development  than  is  possible  under  present 
conditions,  and  for  increasing  the  responsibilities  and 
powers  of  municipal  authorities,  under  the  advice  of  a 
skilled  department  of  local  government  in  each  state. 

To  meet  a  temporary  need,  the  Federal  Government 
should  take  an  active  interest  in  the  housing  of  workers 
engaged  in  munition  plants,  particularly  in  government 
arsenals  and  in  small  towns  and  rural  districts  where  there 
is  lack  of  strong  local  government.  The  Federal  Govern- 
ment should  either  require  adequate  accommodation  and 
proper  sanitary  conditions  to  be  provided  at  a  reasonable 
cost  for  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  country, 
or  itself  assist  in  making  that  provision,  as  is  being  done 
in  Great  Britain  and  allied  countries. 

Whether  in  regard  to  peace  or  war  conditions,  the  main 
objects  of  any  improvement  in  government  organization, 
of  rural  and  of  urban  conditions,  must  be  to  conserve  life 
and  to  stimulate  production.  To  achieve  these  objects  it  is 
essential,  above  all  other  things,  that  greater  activity  be 
shown  by  governments  in  protecting  public  health,  in 
promoting  sound  systems  of  education,  and  in  controlling 
land  speculation. 

The  Cost  of  Neglect 

We  have  the  estimate  from  United  States  sources 
that  feeble-minded  children  cost  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment ^90,000,000,  and  that  crime  costs  ^600,000,000  a 
year.  The  feeble-minded  child  produces  the  strongest 
link  that  connects  neglect  of  social  and  health  conditions 
with  crime. 

While  these  figures  are  of  value  in  conveying  some 
impression  of  the  importance  of  the  problem  of  public 
health,  they  are,  of  course,  of  no  value  as  an  indication 
of  the  extent  of  the  government  responsibility;  since  the 
factors  necessary  to  show  the  proportion  of  the  loss  due 
to  individual  neglect  and  the  proportion  of  maladministra- 
tion must  continue  to  be  unknown.  Nor  are  they  any 
guide  as  to  the  respective  losses  caused  by  overcrowding 
in  cities  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  isolation  and  poverty  in 
rural  districts  on  the  other  hand.  But  enough  is  known  to 
make  it  clear  to  every  student  of  social  conditions  that  a 
large  share  of  the  responsibility  for  the  deplorable  and 
unnecessary  loss  of  life  and  physical  deterioration  on  this 
continent  rests  with  the  various  governing  authorities, 
who  have  the  powers  to  regulate  land  development,  and 
that  there  are  conditions  in  the  rural  districts  as  injurious 
to  health  and  morals  as  in  the  crowded  city  slums. 

Looking  Ahead 

At  present,  there  is  a  "confusion  of  tongues"  as  to  the 
desirability,  or  otherwise,  of  money  and  human  energy 
being  spent  on  works  that  are  not  absolutely  essential  to  the 
prosecution  of  the  war.  The  weight  of  evidence  seems  to  be 
in  favor  of  everything  being  suspended  which  can  be  put 
off  without  injury  to  our  social  and  economic  life.  As 
conservation  of  health  lies  at  the  root  of  our  social  life, 
and  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  essential  needs  as  a  means  of 
prosecuting  the  war  itself,  as  well  as  to  make  up  for  the 


wastage  of  war  and  to  utilize  our  natural  resources,  public 
health  expenditures  should  be  the  last  to  be  curtailed. 
Moreover,  whatever  public  works  may  be  delayed,  there 
should  be  no  delay  in  thinking  out  and  formulating  a 
policy  for  future  action,  having  regard  to  past  failure  and 
to  the  lessons  taught  by  the  war. 

Apart  from  the  question  of  general  education,  there  is 
need  for  improvement  in  the  training  of  those  engaged  in 
municipal  and  sanitary  engineering,  land  surveying,  and 
assessment  valuation,  in  order  to  qualify  a  larger  body  of 
professional  men  to  specialize  in  the  work  of  planning  and 
developing  land,  controlling  public  health  and  assessing 
property  values.  The  organization  of  municipal  and 
sanitary  engineers  for  purposes  of  specialized  professional 
training  and  for  the  advancement  of  their  particular 
branch  of  engineering  is  needed. 

In  our  universities,  too,  we  want  to  see  an  awakening  to 
a  more  vital  interest  in  civic  problems  and  in  the  science 
of  land  development  and  industrial  organization.  Pro- 
fessor Geddes  claims  that  the  universities  in  all  the 
countries  in  the  passing  generation  have  been  strong- 
holds of  Germanic  thought,  with  its  mechanical  and  venal 
philosophy.  "The  re-awakening  movements  of  the 
universities  have  been  slow,  timid,  blindfold,  because  lack- 
ing in  civic  vision." 

The  Land  Problem 

Enough,  but  not  too  much,  has  been  said  on  the  subject 
of  land  speculation.  The  governments  have  a  special 
obligation,  as  the  original  venders  of  land,  and  in  view  of 
the  far-reaching  effects  of  immoral  practices  in  connection 
with  its  sale,  to  employ  special  means  to  protect  purchasers 
from  such  practices.  There  are  numerous  obvious  steps 
which  should  be  taken  in  this  respect,  including  the  regis- 
tration of  those  engaged  in  real-estate  operations  and  the 
application  of  adequate  safeguards  to  protect  purchasers. 

Government  control  of  land  development  and  the 
system  of  assessing  and  taxing  of  land  should  have  regard 
to  its  use,  its  non-use,  and  its  abuse  as  an  instrument  of 
production.  The  economic  use  of  land  must  be  encouraged, 
the  non-use  of  land  hindered,  and  the  abuse  of  land  pre- 
vented, by  government  policies;  unless  we  intend  to 
continue  to  sacrifice  the  surplus  fruits  of  production — the 
only  source  from  which  increase  of  real  wealth  is  derived — 
for  the  plaything  of  speculation. 

A  Comprehensive  Survey 

A  comprehensive  survey  of  the  social,  physical  and 
industrial  conditions  of  all  rural  territory  should  be  made, 
with  the  object  of  ascertaining:  first,  the  main  facts  re- 
garding the  problems  of  rural  life  and  rural  development 
in  territory  already  settled  and  organized;  and,  second, 
more  precise  information  than  is  now  available  regarding 
natural  resources  in  unorganized  territory. 

The  survey  should  be  so  prepared  as  to  enable  construc- 
tive proposals  to  be  formulated  regarding  the  economic 
development  of  the  natural  and  industrial  resources  of 
the  country,  and  regarding  the  location  of  new  towns, 
railways  and  highways. 

It  should  include  a  complete  inventory  and  an  additonal 
survey  of  all  lands  which  have  been  already  surveyed  and 
homesteaded  with  a  view  to  securing  their  settlement 


113 


L'Envoi 


The  world  has  long  known  that  impure  and 
insufficient  food  or  long  hours  of  work  will 
impair  the  usefulness  of  any  man  to  society. 
Now,  on  a  huge  scale,  it  is  being  proven  that  the 
subtler  results  of  rotten  housing  are  an  intoler- 
able expense  and  drain  upon  national  vitality. 

Housing  reform  accordingly  has  passed  sud- 
denly out  of  its  earlier  stage  as  a  negative  re- 
pression of  unsanitary  and  unwholesome  con- 
ditions, and  this  sketchy  and  hasty  collection 
of  new  facts  and  demands  gives  hopeful  promise 
of  a  new  era  vast  in  social  possibilities. 

We  get  glimpses  here  of  society  grasping 
firmly  a  problem  so  huge  that  it  governs  one- 
quarter  of  the  earnings  of  the  average  man, 
attacking  the  problem  radically  by  bold  con- 
structive action,  socialistic  action,  if  you  like — 
the  name  doesn't  matter.  We  see  great  nations 
plowing  into  the  problem  with  expenditures 
of  hundreds  of  millions,  boldly  tossing  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  wage-workers  out  of  black 
slums  into  sweet,  sun -bathed  dwellings  that 
stand  amid  green  acres.  We  see  the  unearned 
increment,  ancient  drag  upon  human  progress,  a 
burden  that  always  grew  in  proportion  to  the 
community's  ability  to  carry  it,  converted  into 
a  source  of  community  revenue.  We  see  the 
human  machine  being  guarded  from  weather 
and  corruption  as  jealously  as  our  machines  of 
steel — and  no  longer  in  the  depressing  name 
of  charity,  or  philanthropy,   but   as   a   tardy 


recognition  of  the  fundamental  principle  upon 
which  a  democracy  alone  can  be  erected. 

When  in  this  world  before  has  a  civilized 
nation  flung  $700,000,000,  with  $1,000,000,000 
more  to  come,  into  the  quick  solution  of  a 
social  problem? 

That  which  we  glimpse  today  will  be  our 
future  if  we  only  see  the  vision  and  are  quick  to 
make  it  come  true  and  stay  true. 

Employers  must  be  shown  what  tangible 
rewards  await  them  if  they  will  put  their  new 
plants  out  upon  cheap  land,  provide  for  work- 
men's houses  to  be  built  on  that  land,  and  then 
keep  the  land  forever  cheap  for  them  by  con- 
serving the  appreciation  of  land  values  as  a 
community  treasure. 

The  Government  must  be  shown  the  op- 
portunity, which  lies  now  within  its  easy  grasp, 
of  keeping  its  new  towns  intact  forever,  re- 
couping its  investment  by  slow  but  sure 
amortization,  and  leaving  each  town  eventually 
owner  of  itself,  in  enjoyment  of  the  full  annual 
value  of  all  the  lands  within  its  borders  with  a 
total  easy  revenue  far  beyond  all  precedent. 

By  such  ways  shall  architects  perhaps  find 
themselves  presently  invited  to  rebuild  vast 
areas  of  dingy  habitations  in  the  United  States 
more  and  more  boldly  by  blocks  and  square 
miles,  devising  beauty  and  comfort,  not  merely 
for  the  well-to-do,  but  for  the  great  80  per  cent 
in  whose  well-being  lies  the  fate  of  civilization. 


116 


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